Modeling of Thermal Conductivity of Graphite Nanosheet Composites

Recent experiments demonstrated a very high thermal conductivity in graphite nanosheet (GNS)/epoxy nanocomposites; however, theoretical analysis is lacking. In this letter, an effective medium model has been used to analyze the effective thermal conductivity of the GNS/polymer nanocomposites and has shown good validity. Strong influences of the aspect ratio and the orientation of the GNS are evident. As expected, interfacial thermal resistance still plays a role in determining the overall thermal transport in the GNS/polymer nanocomposites. In comparison with the interfacial thermal resistance between carbon nanotubes and polymers, the interfacial thermal resistance between GNS and polymers is about one order of magnitude lower, the reason for which is discussed.