A High-throughput Plasma-based Approach for Improving the Thermal Conductivity of Epoxy Resin/Boron Nitride

Better thermal management is urgently required in the electronics industry. Ceramic fillers are widely used in electronic polymer packages due to their high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties. The interface between the fillers and matrix is usually the weakest point in the heating circuit of composites. Many modification methods have been proposed to increase the thermal conductivity of the filler-polymer interface, such as interface functionalization and hybridization. However, the method for promoting the interface thermal conductivity suiting for mass production has not yet been proposed. Here, a high-throughput and scalable method to enable significant improvement of interfacial thermal conductivity of boron nitride fillers via the surface dielectric barrier discharge in conjunction with roll-to-roll processing is reported. The plasma successfully grafts -OH groups on boron nitride and improved the thermal conductivity of the boron nitride/epoxy resin composites by 22.1%. The integration of convenient, solvent-free, and environmentally-friendly of this method offers a new opportunity for the development of thermal management in electronic devices, and flexible energy storage, and other fields.