title: A Combination of Boron Nitride Nanotubes and Cellulose Nanofibers for the Preparation of a Nanocomposite with High Thermal Conductivity.
abstract: With the current development of modern electronics toward miniaturization, high-degree integration and multifunctionalization, considerable heat is accumulated, which results in the thermal failure or even explosion of modern electronics. The thermal conductivity of materials has thus attracted much attention in modern electronics. Although polymer composites with enhanced thermal conductivity are expected to address this issue, achieving higher thermal conductivity (above 10 W m-1K-1) at filler loadings below 50.0 wt % remains challenging. Here, we report a nanocomposite consisting of boron nitride nanotubes and cellulose nanofibers that exhibits high thermal conductivity (21.39 W m-1K-1) at 25.0 wt % boron nitride nanotubes. Such high thermal conductivity is attributed to the high intrinsic thermal conductivity of boron nitride nanotubes and cellulose nanofibers, the one-dimensional structure of boron nitride nanotubes, and the reduced interfacial thermal resistance due to the strong interaction between the boron nitride nanotubes and cellulose nanofibers. Using the as-prepared nanocomposite as a flexible printed circuit board, we demonstrate its potential usefulness in electronic device-cooling applications. This thermally conductive nanocomposite has promising applications in thermal interface materials, printed circuit boards or organic substrates in electronics and could supplement conventional polymer-based materials.
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.|Shenzhen College of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.|Department of Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.|Shenzhen College of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9719-3563
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong 999077, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Bin
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen 518055, China.|Department of Electronics Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong 999077, China.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Ching-Ping
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3556-8053
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Wong
keywords: boron nitride nanotubes; cellulose nanofibers; interfacial thermal resistance; nanocomposites; thermal conductivity