Nanostructured polymer films with metal-like thermal conductivity
Name
s41467-019-09697-7.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
4.17 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cd71abfc402986712dd8327b90df6f52
Author(s)
Xu, Yanfei
Kraemer, Daniel
Song, Bai
Zhou, Jiawei
Loomis, James
Wang, Jianjian
Li, Mingda
Ghasemi, Hadi
Huang, Xiaopeng
Li, Xiaobo
Date Issued
April 16, 2019
Journal
Nature communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Xu, Yanfei et al. "Nanostructured polymer films with metal-like thermal conductivity." Nature communications 10 (2019): 1771 © 2019 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Due to their unique properties, polymers – typically thermal insulators – can open up opportunities for advanced thermal management when they are transformed into thermal conductors. Recent studies have shown polymers can achieve high thermal conductivity, but the transport mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. Here we report polyethylene films with a high thermal conductivity of 62 Wm −1 K −1 , over two orders-of-magnitude greater than that of typical polymers (~0.1 Wm −1 K −1 ) and exceeding that of many metals and ceramics. Structural studies and thermal modeling reveal that the film consists of nanofibers with crystalline and amorphous regions, and the amorphous region has a remarkably high thermal conductivity, over ~16 Wm −1 K −1 . This work lays the foundation for rational design and synthesis of thermally conductive polymers for thermal management, particularly when flexible, lightweight, chemically inert, and electrically insulating thermal conductors are required.
Subjects
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy
General Chemistry
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09697-7
