Highly thermally conductive polymer composites with barnacle-like nano-crystalline Diamond@Silicon carbide hybrid architecture

Polymeric composites with the advantages of easy process, light weight and good chemical resistance were employed in thermal management. The construction of a new type thermal conductive filler has become an efficient method for improving the thermal transportation performance of polymer composite. In this work, a barnacle-like nano-crystalline diamond@silicon carbide (ND@SiC) is prepared through depositing ND on SiC powders in a hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD). ND@SiC/PVDF composite was prepared and their thermal transportation properties were investigated. The obtained composites with 70 wt% ND@SiC loading exhibit a high thermal conductivity of 2.39 W m−1 K−1, which increased by 1132% in comparison with the pure polymer. It is also much higher than that of the composite adding 70 wt% SiC powders (1.48 W m−1 K−1). The high thermal conductivity of polymer composites by adding the ND@SiC filler is mainly attributed to the novel barnacle-like structure. This work provides a new idea to significantly enhance thermal transportation properties of composites as used in advanced packaging materials.