Biodegradable polymer composites
usually require high
filler loadings
to increase their thermal conductivity, which can, in turn, compromise
their mechanical and electrical insulation properties. In this study,
we successfully developed biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)-based
composites with an oriented segregated double-filler network. The
construction of this network involved melt blending PBS and carbon
nanotubes (CNTs), followed by crushing to obtain the masterbatch (PBS/CNTs).
Subsequently, boron nitride (BN) powder was mechanically mixed with
the PBS/CNTs masterbatch, and the hot-pressed PBS/CNTs@BN sheets were
subjected to forced uniaxial orientation manipulation. The resultant
composites exhibited significantly in-plane thermal conductivity,
reaching 1.0 W m–1 K–1 at 3 vol
% CNTs and 5 vol % BN content and even reaching up to 2.2 W m–1 K–1 at 3 vol % CNTs and 20 vol
% BN content, which is nearly 10-fold higher than that of pure PBS.
Furthermore, composites containing 3 vol % CNTs and 5 vol % BN fillers
exhibit good electrical insulation characteristics (5 × 10–10 S/cm) and maintained balanced mechanical properties
(tensile strength of 37.7 MPa, impact toughness of 10.0 kJ/m2). Overall, the oriented segregated double-filler networks effectively
endowed the biodegradable polymer composites with good thermal conductivity,
electrical insulation, and acceptable mechanical properties at low
filler concentrations. As a result, these multifunctional biodegradable
polymer composites hold great promise for the thermal management of
electronic devices.