Solvent-assisted encapsulation of boron nitride in polystyrene for high-efficient heat dissipation

Highlights

• BN–OH@SPS composites were prepared by inorganic acid-assisted assembly approach.

• BN-OH@SPS composites possess highly ordered structures.

• BN-OH@SPS composites exhibit high thermal conductivity.

• BN-OH@SPS composites show outstanding mechanical properties.

Abstract

The actual application of polymer-based composites is obstructed by low thermal conductivity (TC) due to the weaker interfacial affinity and unordered distribution of filler. Herein, we report a breakthrough of heat transfer enabled by sulfonated polystyrene nanospheres-coated hydroxylated boron nitride (BN–OH/SPS) microrods with highly ordered structures via inorganic acid-assisted assembly and following a hot press process. Benefiting from the ordered structure, accumulated heat can rapidly dissipate from the continuous BN–BN thermal conduction pathway in the PS matrix. The in-plane TC of BN-OH/SPS composite with 10 wt% BN reaches up to 8.512 W/mK, which is nearly 45 times larger than that of neat PS. Additionally, BN-OH/SPS composite exhibits excellent mechanical properties. Remarkably, this appealing strategy can be used as a general fabrication method to overcome the challenge of low TC for polymer-based composites.