Thermally Conductive and Electrically Insulating PVP/Boron Nitride Composite Films for Heat Spreader

Thermally conductive materials with electrically insulating properties have been extensively investigated for thermal management of electronic devices. The combined properties of high thermal conductivity, structural stability, corrosion resistance and electric resistivity make hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) a promising candidate for this purpose. Theoretical studies have revealed that h-BN has a high in-plane thermal conductivity up to 400 - 800 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature. However, it is still a big challenge to achieve high thermally conductive h-BN thick films that are commercially feasible due to its poor mechanical properties. On the other hand, many polymers exhibit advantages for flexibility. Thus, combining the merits of polymer and the high thermal conductivity of h-BN particles is considered as a promising solution for this issue. In this work, orientated PVP/h-BN films were prepared by electrospinning and a subsequent mechanical pressing process. With the optimized h-BN loading, a PVP/h-BN composite film with up to 22 W m−1 K−1 and 0.485 W m−1 K−1 for in-plane and through-plane thermal conductivity can be achieved, respectively. We believe this work can help accelerate the development of h-BN for thermal management applications.