Microplasma processed ultrathin boron nitride nanosheets for polymer nanocomposites with enhanced thermal transport performance

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Zhang, Ri Chao and Sun, Dan and Lu, Ai and Askari, Sadegh and Macias-Montero, Manuel and Joseph, Paul and Dixon, Dorian and Ostrikov, Kostya and Maguire, Paul and Mariotti, Davide (2016) Microplasma processed ultrathin boron nitride nanosheets for polymer nanocomposites with enhanced thermal transport performance. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 8 (21). pp. 13567-13572. ISSN 1944-8252 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b01531)

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Abstract

This Research Article reports on the enhancement of the thermal transport properties of nanocomposite materials containing hexagonal boron nitride in poly(vinyl alcohol) through room-temperature atmospheric pressure direct-current microplasma processing. Results show that the microplasma treatment leads to exfoliation of the hexagonal boron nitride in isopropyl alcohol, reducing the number of stacks from >30 to a few or single layers. The thermal diffusivity of the resulting nanocomposites reaches 8.5 mm2 s-1, 50 times greater than blank poly(vinyl alcohol) and twice that of nanocomposites containing nonplasma treated boron nitride nanosheets. From TEM analysis, we observe much less aggregation of the nanosheets after plasma processing along with indications of an amorphous carbon interfacial layer, which may contribute to stable dispersion of boron nitride nanosheets in the resulting plasma treated colloids.

ORCID iDs

Zhang, Ri Chao, Sun, Dan, Lu, Ai, Askari, Sadegh, Macias-Montero, Manuel, Joseph, Paul, Dixon, Dorian, Ostrikov, Kostya, Maguire, Paul and Mariotti, Davide ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1504-4383;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)