Nanostructured polymer films with metal-like thermal conductivity

Yanfei Xu, Daniel Kraemer, Bai Song, Zhang Jiang, Jiawei Zhou, James Loomis, Jianjian Wang, Mingda Li, Hadi Ghasemi, Xiaopeng Huang, Xiaobo Li and Gang Chen ()
Additional contact information
Yanfei Xu: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Daniel Kraemer: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bai Song: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zhang Jiang: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
Jiawei Zhou: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
James Loomis: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jianjian Wang: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mingda Li: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hadi Ghasemi: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Xiaopeng Huang: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Xiaobo Li: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gang Chen: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09697-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09697-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09697-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().