Highly thermally conductive and eco-friendly OH-h-BN/chitosan nanocomposites by constructing a honeycomb thermal network.

More than 110,000,000 tons of mismanaged plastics were to be produced in 2020. Polymers are favored in the preparation of thermally conductive materials due to their excellent comprehensive properties. However, most polymers fabricated for thermally conductive materials are difficult to degrade in the natural environment. To alleviate the increasingly severe environmental problems, we reported a novel eco-friendly material with high thermal conductivity, which was composited of chitosan microspheres (CSM) and hydroxyl-functionalized hexagonal boron nitride (OH-h-BN) nanoplatelets. Utilizing their significant difference in scales, the OH-h-BN nanoplatelets were arranged between each CSM. Their overall structure was similar to the honeycomb: CSM were honeycomb cores, and OH-h-BN nanoplatelets were honeycomb network. The routine-structure OH-h-BN/CS nanocomposites were only 0.94 ± 0.02 W·m−1·K−1 at 50 wt% in thermal conductivity. However, the OH-h-BN/CSM nanocomposites with honeycomb structure can reach 5.66 ± 0.32 W·m−1·K−1 in the same loading, for enhancement of 502% and 1914% than OH-h-BN/CS nanocomposites and pure CS, respectively. [Display omitted] • Chitosan microspheres (CSM) were reported as the substrate for heat conduction. • OH-h-BN/CSM nanocomposites possess the particular honeycomb network structures. • The thermal conductivity of OH-h-BN/CSM nanocomposites can reach 5.66 W·m−1·K−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]