Fabrication of natural rubber dielectric elastomers with enhanced thermal conductivity via dopamine chemistry

Herein, boron nitride (BN) is modified by bio-inspired dopamine chemistry to increase thermal conductivity of natural rubber (NR) dielectric elastomer. With in situ self-polymerization of dopamine, poly(dopamine) (PDA) is coated on the BN platelets surface. After PDA modification, the BN platelets are homogeneously dispersed in polymeric matrix, resulted in enhanced mechanical properties, thermal conductivity and dielectric properties. The NR composites acquire the maximum thermal conductivity coefficient (0.46 W/mK), which is approximately 460% of pure NR without thermal conductive filler (0.10 W/mK). Moreover, the NR composites exhibit high dielectric strength and large energy density due to the PDA modification on BN platelets.