In‐Situ “molecular welding” preparation of graphene/polyimide hybrid film with superior thermal conductivity and flexibility

Abstract

ABSTRACTWith the rapid development of electronic industry, thermal management has become a critical issue that severely restricts the application of portable devices. In this work, we fabricate a flexible and free‐standing graphitized‐graphene/polyimide (I‐g‐GO/PI) film via an in‐situ “molecular welding” strategy. With the help of in‐situ polymerization, PI can be well‐dispersed with GO and serves as a solder to enlarge the grain size of GO, resulting in an enhanced thermal conductivity of the film. The 7 wt % addition of PI into GO (I‐g‐GO/PI‐7%) leads to an in‐plane thermal conductivity as high as 1269.700 ± 1.498 W/m/K, which is 81.8% higher than that of the pristine graphene and also superior to that fabricated via solution blending method by 58.3%. Simultaneously, the hybrid film exhibits an excellent flexibility and survives from a 2000 cycles bending test. The large‐area hybrid film prepared by such an in‐situ “molecular welding” method provides a promising way to fabricate graphene‐based film for highly efficient thermal management. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018, 56, 1215–1223