A rapid and simple method to draw polyethylene nanofibers with enhanced thermal conductivity

Abstract

We report on a rapid and simple method to fabricate polyethylene (PE) nanofibers by one-step drawing from PE solution. The diameter of the fiber prepared with this method can be as small as 40 nm. The thermal conductivity of the drawn PE nanofiber was measured with suspended microdevices, and the highest value obtained is 8.8 W m−1 K−1, which is very close to that of electrospun PE nanofibers, and over 20 times higher than bulk value. Raman spectra of these drawn PE nanofibers indicate that molecular chains in these fibers can be as well aligned as that in electrospun fibers, which results in the enhanced thermal conductivity of the drawn PE nanofibers.