Adding heat conducting particles to a polymer matrix to prepare thermally conductive and electrical insulation materials is an effective approach to address the safety issues arising from the accumulation of heat in the working process of electronic devices. In this work, thermally conductive and electrical insulation nano-paper, consisting of Boron Nitride nano-sheet (BNNS) and cellulose nanofiber (CNF), was prepared using an aerogel 3D skeleton template method. For comparison, BNNS/CNF nano-paper was also produced using a simple blending method. At a BNNS loading of 50 wt%, the thermal conductivity of BNNS/CNF aerogel nano-paper and blended nano-paper at 70 °C are 2.4 W/mK and 1.2 W/mK respectively, revealing an increase of 94.4%. Under similar conditions, the volume resistivity of BNNS/CNF aerogel nano-paper and blended nano-paper are 4.0 × 1014 and 4.2 × 1014 Ω·cm respectively. In view of its excellent thermal conductivity and electrical insulation performance, therefore, BNNS/CNF aerogel nano-paper holds great potential for electronic-related applications.
Keywords: 3D skeleton; BNNS; CNF; aerogel; electrical insulation; nano-paper; thermal conductivity.