Thermal transport in organic/inorganic composites

Composite materials, which consist of organic and inorganic components, are widely used in various fields because of their excellent mechanical properties, resistance to corrosion, low-cost fabrication, etc. Thermal properties of organic/inorganic composites play a crucial role in some applications such as thermal interface materials for micro-electronic packaging, nano-porous materials for sensor development, thermal insulators for aerospace, and high-performance thermoelectric materials for power generation and refrigeration. In the past few years, many studies have been conducted to reveal the physical mechanism of thermal transport in organic/ inorganic composite materials in order to stimulate their practical applications. In this paper, the theoretical and experimental progresses in this field are reviewed. Besides, main factors affecting the thermal conductivity of organic/ inorganic composites are discussed, including the intrinsic properties of organic matrix and inorganic fillers, topological structure of composites, loading volume fraction, and the interfacial thermal resistance between fillers and organic matrix.