Composite nanoarchitectonics of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/graphene for thermal and electrical conductivity enhancement via constructing segregated network structure.

In this work, a facial approach was proposed to improve the thermal and electrical conductivity of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by constructing a segregated graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) network structure. PVDF/GNP composites with segregated filler network were fabricated by coating GNP on the surface of PVDF powders using ball milling treatment, followed by compression molding technique. PVDF powders of different particle size (e.g., 100 and 400 μm) were employed to elucidate the influence of matrix particle size on the properties of PVDF/GNP composites. Results showed that the formation of segregated GNP network contributed to a concurrent enhancement of both thermal and electrical conductivity of corresponding composites. A thermal conductivity as high as 2.23 W/mK coupling with an electrical conductivity of about 0.2 S/m was achieved for segregated PVDF₁₀₀/GNP 6 wt% composite, which demonstrates potential applications in the areas that require both high electric and heat dissipations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]