Soft and Damping Thermal Interface Materials with Honeycomb‐Board‐Mimetic Filler Network for Electronic Heat Dissipation

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 20; no. 35; pp. e2400115 - n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Wenjie, Liu, Yijie, Zhong, Shujing, Chen, Jie, Li, Zhe, Zhang, Chongyin, Jiang, Pingkai, Huang, Xingyi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2024
• Subjects: Bonding strength; Boron nitride; boron nitride nanosheets; Centrifugal casting; Centrifugal compressors; Compressive properties; Compressive strength; Damping; Density; Dissipation; Electrical insulation; Electronic devices; Fillers; heat dissipation; Heat transfer; Honeycomb construction; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Polyazomethines; recycling; Semiconductor devices; Thermal conductivity; thermal interface materials; boron nitride nanosheets; recycling; thermal interface materials; thermal conductivity; heat dissipation; centrifugal casting
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202400115

High‐power‐density electronic devices under vibrations call for soft and damping thermal interface materials (TIMs) for efficient heat dissipation. However, integrating low hardness, high damping, and superior heat transfer capability into one TIM is highly challenging. Herein, soft, damping, and thermally conductive TIMs are designed and prepared by constructing a honeycomb‐board‐mimetic boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) network in a dynamic polyimine via one‐step horizontal centrifugal casting. The unique filler network makes the TIMs perform a high through‐plane thermal conductivity (> 7.69 W m−1 K−1) and a uniform heat transfer process. Meanwhile, the hierarchical dynamic bonding of the polyimine endows the TIMs with low compressive strength (2.16 MPa at 20% strain) and excellent damping performance (tan δ > ≈0.3 at 10−2–102 Hz). The resulting TIMs also exhibit electrical insulation and remarkable recycling ability. Compared with the commercial ones, the TIMs provide better heat dissipation (4.1 °C) for a high‐power 5G base station and less temperature fluctuation (1.8 °C) for an automotive insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) under vibrations. This rational design offers a viable approach to prepare soft and damping TIMs for effective heat dissipation of high‐power‐density electronic devices under vibrations. Electrically insulating thermal interface materials are designed and prepared via one‐step horizontal centrifugal casting. The resultant thermal interface materials are soft, damping, and thermally conductive owing to a unique honeycomb‐board‐mimetic boron nitride nanosheet network and a hierarchical dynamic polyimine. The thermal interface materials provide remarkable temperature drop and less temperature fluctuation for the heat dissipation of high‐power‐density electronic devices under vibrations.