Interacted boron nitride/Mxene hybrids with vertically aligned networks for improving the thermal conductivity, electromagnetic wave absorption and mechanical properties for the polymer-based thermal interface materials

Polymer-based thermal interface materials (TIMs) with good comprehensive properties remains a severe challenge for the advanced electronics. Herein, the vertically aligned boron nitride-Mxene (BN-Mxene) hybrids with improved surface interaction were introduced to enhance the thermal conductivity of the polydimethylsiloxane-based (PDMS) TIMs. Specifically, the BN-Mxene hybrids with improved surface interactions were mainly relay on the hydrogen and π-π bonds from the hydroxylated boron nitride (BN-OH) and etched Ti3AlC2 (MAX). Meanwhile, the vertically aligned structures of the obtained TIMs were formed through the modified bidirectional freeze-drying approaches. As a result, the boron nitride-Mxene /polydimethylsiloxane (BN-Mxene/PDMS) TIMs exhibited the elevated through-plane thermal conductivity (2.03 W m−1 K−1), good electromagnetic wave absorption (−49.37 dB, 5.8 GHz) and the compression elasticity properties at a filler loading of 15 wt%. Importantly, the findings provided a bright prospect in the application of next-generation electronics.