Recent advances in thermal-conductive insulating polymer composites with various fillers

Development of polymer-based composites with excellent thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties is a hot research topic, because more and more electrical devices with high energy/power density need thermal conductive electrical insulation systems. Polymers generally own lower thermal conductivity, and the composites filled with thermally conductive fillers is a common method for preparing high thermal conductivity composites. However, large amounts of fillers always result in decreasing of electrical insulation properties in the composites. Morphology control of the filler, complete core-shell structure, and core-shell-like structure fillers can achieve optimization of thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties in filled composites. This work covers how to obtain a reasonable balance of thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties in filled composites from the filler chosen of view. Recent advances in new thermally conductive fillers are summarized, to provide a reference for the application of high thermal conductivity composites in the electrical insulation field.