Alignment of silver nanoparticles in polysiloxane crosslink network under direct electric field

• Published in: Composites science and technology Vol. 203; p. 108611
• Main Authors: Masraff, Mimi Syahira, Noh Amin Abdul Rahman, Amir Muhammad, Ramli, Mohd Riduwan, Mohd Jamil, Mohamad Kamarol, Abdullah, Mohd Khalil, Ali, Muhammad Zeshan, Ahmad, Zulkifli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Barking Elsevier Ltd 08.02.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Alignment; Anisotropy; Composite materials; Conductivity; Direct current; Effective medium theory; Electric fields; Fillers; Heat transfer; Nanoparticles; Polydimethylsiloxane; Polysiloxane; Silver; Thermal conductivity; Thermal interface; Silver; Polysiloxane; Thermal interface; Effective medium theory
• ISSN: 0266-3538; 1879-1050
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108611

Silver nanoparticles in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite was aligned under direct current electric field in the range 3.3 kV/cm to 10 kV/cm. It recorded a constant increase in thermal conductivity displaying an average improvement of 95% conductivity with maximum of 0.391 W/mK in longitudinal direction compared to 0.301 W/mK in lateral direction. This anisotropic conductive behaviour is attributed to the mechanism of exclusion, agglomeration and alignment of the filler during in situ curing process. The observed change in thermal conductivity with filler volume concentration corroborated well with the improved model based on Effective Medium Theory (EMT). By considering Kapitza and filler-filler interface resistance, the predicted values of thermal conductivity of the filler-matrix interface к0int is 0.04 W/mK whilst thermal conductivity of the filler-filler interface к0cont is 0.8 W/mK respectively. [Display omitted]