Superior enhancement in thermal conductivity of epoxy/graphene nanocomposites through use of dimethylformamide (DMF) relative to acetone as solvent

Swapneel Danayat; Avinash Singh Nayal; Fatema Tarannum; Roshan Annam; Rajmohan Muthaiah; Madhan K Arulanandam; Jivtesh Garg

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2023.102319

Superior enhancement in thermal conductivity of epoxy/graphene nanocomposites through use of dimethylformamide (DMF) relative to acetone as solvent

MethodsX. 2023 Aug 5:11:102319. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2023.102319. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Swapneel Danayat¹, Avinash Singh Nayal¹, Fatema Tarannum¹, Roshan Annam¹, Rajmohan Muthaiah¹, Madhan K Arulanandam², Jivtesh Garg¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA.
² School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.

Abstract

This method article describes the fabrication of graphene-epoxy nanocomposites using two different solvents, dimethylformamide (DMF) and acetone, and validates the resulting thermal conductivity improvements. The study compared the two solvents at a filler composition of 7 wt% and found that DMF resulted in more uniform dispersion of graphene nanoparticles in the epoxy matrix, leading to a 44% improvement in thermal conductivity compared to acetone. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) imaging showed that DMF-based composites had more evenly dispersed graphene nanoplatelets than acetone-based composites, which exhibited larger graphene agglomerations. Effective medium theory calculations showed that DMF led to almost 35% lower interface thermal resistance between graphene and epoxy compared to acetone. The validated fabrication method and findings provide new possibilities for developing high thermal conductivity graphene-epoxy nanocomposites for various thermal management applications.•This article describes methods for fabricating graphene-epoxy composites using acetone and DMF as solvents, and validates that DMF is better for achieving higher thermal conductivity in the composite.

Keywords: Acetone; Agglomeration; Composite; DMF; DMF assisted dispersion method for improved thermal conductivity of graphene-epoxy nanocomposites; Graphene; Polymer; Solvents; Thermal conductivity.