High-loading graphene composites meet electronic industry's metrics for thermal conductivity enhancement

Researchers investigated the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of epoxy composites with high loading fractions of graphene and h-BN fillers. They found that the graphene fillers outperformed boron nitride fillers in terms of thermal conductivity enhancement. The surprising finding is that, in the high loading composites with quasi-2D fillers, the apparent cross-plane thermal conductivity of the fillers can be the limiting factor for heat conduction. These results are important for developing the next generation of the thermal interface materials.