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Vol. 14 (2022)

Vertical Alignment of Anisotropic Fillers Assisted by Expansion Flow in Polymer Composites

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-022-00909-2
Hongyu Niu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
Haichang Guo
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
Lei Kang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
Liucheng Ren
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
Ruicong Lv
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
Shulin Bai
School of Materials Science and Engineering, HEDPS/Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Shulin Bai

slbai@pku.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 14 (2022), Article Number: 153

Abstract

Orientation control of anisotropic one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) materials in solutions is of great importance in many fields ranging from structural materials design, the thermal management, to energy storage. Achieving fine control of vertical alignment of anisotropic fillers (such as graphene, boron nitride (BN), and carbon fiber) remains challenging. This work presents a universal and scalable method for constructing vertically aligned structures of anisotropic fillers in composites assisted by the expansion flow (using 2D BN platelets as a proof-of-concept). BN platelets in the silicone gel strip are oriented in a curved shape that includes vertical alignment in the central area and horizontal alignment close to strip surfaces. Due to the vertical orientation of BN in the central area of strips, a through-plane thermal conductivity as high as 5.65 W m−1 K−1 was obtained, which can be further improved to 6.54 W m−1 K−1 by combining BN and pitch-based carbon fibers. The expansion-flow-assisted alignment can be extended to the manufacture of a variety of polymer composites filled with 1D and 2D materials, which can find wide applications in batteries, electronics, and energy storage devices.


Highlights:


1 The vertically aligned structures of anisotropic fillers (using 2D boron nitride (BN) platelets as a proof-of-concept) in composites are constructed assisted by the expansion flow.
2 BN platelets in composites are aligned in a curved shape that includes vertical alignment in the central area and horizontal alignment close to strip surfaces.
3 The shape of expansion channels affects the vertical orientation order and the through-plane thermal conductivity of composites.

Keywords

Boron nitride (BN) Silicone Expansion flow Vertical alignment Through-plane thermal conductivity
Niu, Hongyu, Haichang Guo, Lei Kang, Liucheng Ren, Ruicong Lv, and Shulin Bai. 2022. “Vertical Alignment of Anisotropic Fillers Assisted by Expansion Flow in Polymer Composites”. Nano-Micro Letters 14 (August):153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-022-00909-2.
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