High thermal conductivity in polydimethylsiloxane composite with vertically oriented graphene nanosheets by liquid-phase exfoliation

Abstract

Here we reported a simple method to tailor vertically graphene architecture in polydimethylsiloxane composite with high thermal conductivity. The few-layer graphene with lateral dimensions of around 500 nm and thickness of ~2 nm was exfoliated with hyperbranched polyethylene as stabilizer via CH-π interactions against re-stacking. Vertically structure in composite was delivered by layer alternating graphene film, and the thermal conductivity is 2.18 W·m−1·K−1, which is mainly due to the formation of effective heat transfer route through aligned nanosheets. This work demonstrates that polymer composite with vertically graphene architecture is a promising candidate for thermal interface materials.