Flexible MXene/copper/cellulose nanofiber heat spreader films with enhanced thermal conductivity

Abstract To deal with the heat dissipation problem produced by a high integrated circuit, the preparation of heat spreaders with excellent heat transportation performance is increasing in demand. The Ti 3 C 2 MXene sheets and copper particles were fully contacted with cellulose nanofibers by a high-speed mixer, and the composite film was prepared as a heat spreader under the action of the vacuum-assisted filtration. The MXene sheets are connected by the esterification of the carboxyl group in MXene and the hydroxyl group in cellulose nanofibers to form a chemical bond and consist of the main skeleton of the composite film. Due to the synergistic effects of MXene and copper particles, the in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivities of the composite film reach 24.96 and 2.46 W m −1 K −1 , respectively. Compared with the pure cellulose nanofiber films, the thermal conductivity of composite films increased by 2819.2 and 187.6%, respectively. By designing two applications of composite films in the actual use process, the excellent heating conduction abilities in two directions have been proved. This measure to improve the thermal conductivities of composite films by MXene-copper binary fillers also provides ideas for the novel heat spreader.