In this work, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/amino acid (AA) composites were prepared by a self-organized crystallization process. Five different AAs (cysteine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, ornithine, and lysine) were selected based on their similar functional groups but different molecular structures. The different PVA-AA interactions in the five PVA/AA composites lead to two crystal patterns, i.e., continuous network (cysteine and lysine) and discrete particles (glutamic acid, ornithine, and aspartic acid). Scanning thermal microscopy is then applied to map the distribution of thermal conduction in these composites. It is found that the interface surrounding the crystals plays a dominating role in phonon transport where the polymer chains are greatly restrained by the interfacial confinement effect. Continuous crystal network builds up a continuous interface that facilitates phonon transfer while phonon scattering occurs in discrete crystalline structures. Significantly improved thermal conductivity of ∼0.7 W/m·K is observed in PVA/cysteine composite with AA loading of 8.4 wt %, which corresponds to a 170% enhancement as compared to pure PVA. The strong PVA-AA molecular interaction and self-organized crystal structure are considered the major reasons for the unique interface property and superior thermal conductivity.
Keywords: crystal network; heat transfer; phonon; polymer composites; thermal conductivity.