Self-assembled nest-like BN skeletons enable polymer composites with high thermal management capacity

Abstract

The lagging development of thermally conductive but electrically insulating materials has become a bottleneck problem for the next generation of advanced high-power density electronic devices. Although second-phase reinforced composites are promising materials for addressing thermal management issues, the inherent mechanism of severe phonon scattering at the interphase results in actual thermal conductivity enhancement efficiency far below expectations. Here, we report a high-performance polymer composite with a nest-like interconnected boron nitride skeleton. This nest-like interconnected BN skeleton without mechanical contact can provide high-efficiency and long-distance phonon transport channel, realizing high thermal conductivity of 1.827 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ in polymer composite with ultra-low content (4.7 vol%). Meanwhile, the EP/nest-like BS composites possess ideal electrical properties and dimensional stability. In the actual heat dissipation process of LED chips, the optimal composite material as the thermal interface material can display a temperature drop of more than 34.8 % compared to neat epoxy, which proves the broad application prospects of this strategy in advanced electronic devices.