Using cellulose nanocrystals for graphene/hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet films towards efficient thermal management with tunable electrical conductivity

Authors

Xin Meng
Jianyun Zhang
Jun Ma
Yao Li
Zhixin Chen, University of WollongongFollow
Siyuan Liu
Tianxing Chen
Yanping Zhang
Xueliang Jiang
Shenmin Zhu

RIS ID

145348

Publication Details

Meng, X., Zhang, J., Ma, J., Li, Y., Chen, Z., Liu, S., Chen, T., Zhang, Y., Jiang, X. & Zhu, S. (2020). Using cellulose nanocrystals for graphene/hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet films towards efficient thermal management with tunable electrical conductivity. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 138

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd High-efficiency thermal management materials have attracted increasingly more attention in the heat dissipation of electronic chips, LED light and electro-thermal heating. Herein, we judiciously designed and synthesized thermally conductive nanocomposite films with tunable electrical conductivity, by assembly of graphene oxide (GO) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets. Specfically, the GO/BN/cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) hybrid dispersions, which were prepared by mixing and stirring GO and BN/CNC dispersions, were converted into macroscopic films through the evaporation-induced self-assembly. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) played a key role in the assembly process, becuase they acted as a dispersant for h-BN nanosheets and formed chiral-structured connection between h-BN and GO. The thermal and electrical performance was tuned by different ratios of reduced GO (RGO) to h-BN with an appropriate reduction procedure. When a thermally conductive yet electrically insulating BN/GO/CNC (mass ratio 76/5/19) film was reduced by hydrazine, it showed thermal conductivity of 107.6 W·m−1·K−1 and resistivity over 109 Ω·cm. On the other hand, an RGO/BN/carbonized CNC nanorods (CNR) (mass ratio 7.5/4.0/1.0) film which was annealed at 1500 °C exhibited thermal conductivity of 2037.9 W·m−1·K−1 and electrical conductivity of 1930.5 S·cm−1. These improvements were attributed to the conductive network consisting of RGO, h-BN and CNR. This research would provide a new platform for development of the next-generation thermal management materials.