Consistent Thermal Conductivities of Spring‐Like Structured Polydimethylsiloxane Composites under Large Deformation

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 36; no. 39; pp. e2404648 - n/a
• Main Authors: Guo, Yongqiang, Wang, Shuangshuang, Zhang, Haitian, Guo, Hua, He, MuKun, Ruan, Kunpeng, Yu, Ze, Wang, Guang‐Sheng, Qiu, Hua, Gu, Junwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Central processing units; Composite materials; Conduction heating; CPUs; Deformation; Flexible components; Nanowires; Polydimethylsiloxane; spring‐like thermal conduction pathways; Thermal conductivity; thermally conductive composites; Three dimensional printing; deformation; spring‐like thermal conduction pathways; polydimethylsiloxane; thermally conductive composites
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202404648

Flexible and highly thermally conductive materials with consistent thermal conductivity (λ) during large deformation are urgently required to address the heat accumulation in flexible electronics. In this study, spring‐like thermal conduction pathways of silver nanowire (S‐AgNW) fabricated by 3D printing are compounded with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to prepare S‐AgNW/PDMS composites with excellent and consistent λ during deformation. The S‐AgNW/PDMS composites exhibit a λ of 7.63 W m−1 K−1 at an AgNW amount of 20 vol%, which is ≈42 times that of PDMS (0.18 W m−1 K−1) and higher than that of AgNW/PDMS composites with the same amount and random dispersion of AgNW (R‐AgNW/PDMS) (5.37 W m−1 K−1). Variations in the λ of 20 vol% S‐AgNW/PDMS composites are less than 2% under a deformation of 200% elongation, 50% compression, or 180° bending, which benefits from the large deformation characteristics of S‐AgNW. The heat‐transfer coefficient (0.29 W cm−2 K−1) of 20 vol% S‐AgNW/PDMS composites is ≈1.3 times that of the 20 vol% R‐AgNW/PDMS composites, which reduces the temperature of a full‐stressed central processing unit by 6.8 °C compared to that using the 20 vol% R‐AgNW/PDMS composites as a thermally conductive material in the central processing unit. Spring‐like thermal conduction pathways of AgNW effectively improve the thermal conductivity of PDMS composites and endow them with consistent thermal conduction performance during deformation.