Enhanced thermal-mechanical properties of polymer composites with hybrid boron nitride nanofillers

The present work focuses on the investigation of the thermal-mechanical properties of the epoxy composites with hybrid boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) and boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs). The stable dispersions of BNNTs-BNNSs were achieved by a noncovalent functionalization with pyrene carboxylic acid. The resulting epoxy/BNNTs-BNNSs composites exhibited homogeneously dispersed BNNTs-BNNSs and a strong filler-matrix interface interaction. The composites showed a 95 % increase in thermal conductivity and a 57 % improvement in Young's modulus by addition of only 1 vol. % BNNTs-BNNSs. Meanwhile, the composites also retained a high electrical resistance of pure epoxy. Our study thus shows the potential for hybrid BNNTs-BNNSs to be successfully used as the nanofillers of polymer composites for applications in electrically insulating thermal interface materials.