Design for controlling thermal and mechanical properties of graphene oxide/silk fibroin nanocomposites: Numerical analysis and experimental study

Abstract

There is a need to develop robust and flexible thin films that can be used for efficient thermal management, especially for minimizing heat dissipation and energy loss in various applications. Here, graphene oxide (GO) and GO/silk fibroin (SF) bionanocomposite films were fabricated using a vacuum filtration method. The thermal conductivity of the bionanocomposite films was determined using scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) in the temperature contrast mode, and it was similar to thermal conductivities estimated through the inverse heat conduction problem and finite element simulation, with an error below 3 %. The local temperature and thermal conductivity of bionanocomposite films can be determined from their surface shape through SThM, and it was observed that the insulation performance of the entire film was excellent despite the small film thickness. Furthermore, through the control of the GO and SF content, the change in the area of the amorphous region, which affects the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the film, could be controlled. A simulation model is proposed for reliably predicting the thermal behavior of materials. GO/SF bionanocomposite films have the potential to be used as excellent insulating materials in miniaturized electronic devices.