Enhanced Thermal Conductivity of Polyimide Composites with Boron Nitride Nanosheets

A strategy was reported to prepare boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) by a molten hydroxide assisted liquid exfoliation from hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) powder. BNNSs with an average thickness of 3 nm were obtained by a facile, low-cost, and scalable exfoliation method. Highly thermally conductive polyimide (PI) composite films with BNNSs filler were prepared by solution-casting process. The in-plane thermal conductivity of PI composite films with 7 wt% BNNSs is up to 2.95 W/mK, which increased by 1,080% compared to the neat PI. In contrast, the out-of plane thermal conductivity of the composites is 0.44 W/mK, with an increase by only 76%. The high anisotropy of thermal conductivity was verified to be due to the high alignment of the BNNSs. The PI/BNNSs composite films are attractive for the thermal management applications in the field of next-generation electronic devices.