Thermal conductivity of Graphene-polymer composites: implications for thermal management

Due to the high thermal conductivity, graphene could be used as a filler in matrix materials to improve the thermal performance. In this paper, the thermal conductivity and interfacial interaction of graphene/polyamide (GE/PA6), graphene/polypropylene (GE/PP) and graphene/high density polyethylene (GE/HDPE) composites with different graphene mass fractions were studied by melt-blending experiments and reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics. The results show that the filling of graphene effectively improves the thermal conductivity of the three polymers, and the comprehensive improvement effect is GE/PA6 > GE/PP > GE/HDPE. Simulation results show that the thermal conductivity of GE/PA6, GE/PP and GE/HDPE composites vary in the same trend as the experimental results. The interfacial thermal conductivity and interaction energy of the three composites are GE/PA6 > GE/PP > GE/HDPE. This study provides guidance for exploring the filling effect of graphene in polymer and preparing polymer materials with better thermal conductivity.