Ice-Templated Assembly Strategy to Construct 3D Boron Nitride Nanosheet Networks in Polymer Composites for Thermal Conductivity Improvement

Owing to the growing heat removal issue of modern electronic devices, polymer composites with high thermal conductivity have drawn much attention in the past few years. However, a traditional method to enhance the thermal conductivity of the polymers by addition of inorganic fillers usually creates composite with not only limited thermal conductivity but also other detrimental effects due to large amount of fillers required. Here, novel polymer composites are reported by first constructing 3D boron nitride nanosheets (3D-BNNS) network using ice-templated approach and then infiltrating them with epoxy matrix. The obtained polymer composites exhibit a high thermal conductivity (2.85 W m(-1) K-1), a low thermal expansion coeffi cient (24-32 ppm K-1), and an increased glass transition temperature (T-g) at relatively low BNNSs loading (9.29 vol%). These results demonstrate that this approach opens a new avenue for design and preparation of polymer composites with high thermal conductivity. The polymer composites are potentially useful in advanced electronic packaging techniques, namely, thermal interface materials, underfill materials, molding compounds, and organic substrates.