Enhancing thermal conductivity and toughness of cellulose nanofibril/boron nitride nanosheet composites

Ying Xu; Xinrui Chen; Caixia Zhang; Arthur J Ragauskas; Jia-Long Wen; Peitao Zhao; Chuanling Si; Ting Xu; Xueping Song

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119938

Enhancing thermal conductivity and toughness of cellulose nanofibril/boron nitride nanosheet composites

Carbohydr Polym. 2022 Nov 15:296:119938. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119938. Epub 2022 Aug 4.

Authors

Ying Xu¹, Xinrui Chen², Caixia Zhang², Arthur J Ragauskas³, Jia-Long Wen⁴, Peitao Zhao⁵, Chuanling Si⁶, Ting Xu⁶, Xueping Song⁷

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37996, USA; Center for Renewable Carbon, Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China.
⁵ School of Low-carbon Energy and Power Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, PR China.
⁶ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper, School of Light Industry Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, PR China.
⁷ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: sx_ping@gxu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36087987
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119938

Abstract

Generally, the thermal conductivity (TC) of composite based on cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) is improved by adding thermal conductive filler, which inevitably leads to the loss of its mechanical properties. In this work, it is the first to simultaneously improve the toughness and TC of CNF/boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) composite from the perspective of thermal conductive filler addition and CNF crystal change. The hydrophilic-modified BNNSs were successfully prepared by xylose-assisted ball-milling prior to adding into CNF. Compared with that of CNF film (1.34 W/(m·K)), the in-plane TC of CNF/BNNS composite (12.68 W/(m·K)) increased significantly by 846 % with loading 30 % BNNS. Afterwards, both toughness (8.0 MJ·m^-3, increased ~250 %) and TC (14.7 W/(m·K), increased ~16 %) of CNF/BNNS composite were further enhanced significantly by mercerization with 12.5 % NaOH solution. The simultaneously improvement of toughness and TC is unprecedented in related studies, which contributes to the effective preparation of thermal management materials.

Keywords: Boron nitride nanosheet; Cellulose II; Cellulose nanofibrils; Nanocomposite; Thermal conductivity; Toughness.

MeSH terms

Boron Compounds*
Cellulose* / chemistry
Excipients
Thermal Conductivity

Substances

Boron Compounds
Excipients
boron nitride
Cellulose