Patternable cellulose/MWCNT laminated nanocomposites with anisotropic thermal and electrical conductivity

To construct eco-friendly materials with anisotropic thermal/electrical conductivity and designable structure and shape not only is the goal of electrical materials, but also meets the requirement of sustainable society. In this work, patternable and laminated cellulose/MWCNT nanocomposites with excellent anisotropic thermal and electrical conductivity are prepared by a scalable and eco-friendly process, including a paper-making step, assembly step and in-situ welding step. In the obtained nanocomposites, the cellulose layer acts as the insulator, and the cellulose/MWCNT layer as the electrical and thermal conductor with a special segregated MWCNT network. As a result, the in-plane and through-plane electrical conductivity of the cellulose/MWCNT nanocomposite with 22.7 wt% MWCNT are 1458 and 1.48 x 10-10 S/m, respectively, and the in-plane and through-plane thermal conductivity are 1.98 and 0.34 W.m-1.K-1, respectively. Moreover, the cellulose/MWCNT nanocomposites have high electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of 31.1 dB when the thickness is 0.9 mm, good tensile strength of 156 MPa, and high shape stability at 240 ?C. More interestingly, the laminated cellulose/MWCNT materials with patterned shape and sophisticated conductive circuit can be easily fabricated to work as a special and customtailor electronic element, thermal management device and electric-heating anti-counterfeiting pattern. Such novel cellulose/MWCNT nanocomposites prepared by a simple, effective and scalable process exhibit a huge potential in environmentally-friendly electrical and thermal management device, electromagnetic shielding element and advanced electronic anti-counterfeiting tag.

Automated summary

The study has successfully prepared cellulose/MWCNT nanocomposites with excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, which can meet design requirements and be fabricated into special shapes and sizes of electronic devices through a simple process.