Improved thermal conductivity and excellent electrical insulation properties of polysiloxane nanocomposite-incorporated functional boron nitride sheets via in situ polymerization

Abstract

Benefiting from its high thermal conductivity (κ) and superior insulation, the boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) is widely investigated as a promising filler for thermal nanocomposites. However, poor dispersibility and weak interaction with polymer matrix hinder the further improvement of BNNS-based thermal composites. Here, inspired by side-chain liquid crystal polysiloxane (SCLCP) with good mesomorphic structures, highly thermoconductive nanocomposites prepared via in situ polymerization using SCLCP with 2D BNNS are reported. The surface of BNNS is silanized with γ-(methacryloxy)propyltrimethoxysilane (KH-570) to introduce double bonds (defined as f-BNNS), and it is directly linked with SCLCP chains during polymerization. Therefore, the alternating stacking of f-BNNS and microscopic ordered structure of SCLCP yielded a high κ of 2.463 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at only 30 wt% f-BNNS content, improving dramatically the κ of pure SCLCP by ∼9 times. Further, the volume electrical resistivity reached 2.11 × 10¹⁴ Ω cm, which is five orders of magnitude higher than the critical resistance for electrical insulation (10⁹ Ω cm). Also, the f-BNNS/SCLCP composites as thermal management materials decreased the temperature of the LED chip by 17.5 °C, exhibiting superior thermal management performance. Along with high κ and excellent electrical resistance, this type of nanocomposites displays great advantages in thermal properties for electronic packaging and thermal management of electronics.