Aligned cellulose/nanodiamond plastics with high thermal conductivity

Thermally conductive aligned cellulose/nanodiamond (CND) plastics were fabricated via gelation transition. The resulting plastics present an orderly layered structure in which cellulose is highly oriented along the in-plane direction. Nanodiamond (ND) could disperse effectively and form an orderly connection with cellulose because of hydrogen bonding. The thermal conductivity of CND plastics is 5.37 W m−1 K−1 at only 5 wt% filler content, which is a high level compared with common plastics at a filler content below 10 wt%. Moreover, the CND plastics also exhibit remarkable mechanical and insulation properties. Highly thermally conductive plastics with insulation and mechanical properties have great potential in the field of thermal management.