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Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecules".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 8830

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Dr. Jingyao Sun

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College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 10082, China
Interests: polymer; polymer composites; soft matter; polymer processing; thermal management; flexible sensor
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the continual growth in flexible electronics and thermal management demands for energy storage, electronic devices, and batteries, etc., electrically and/or thermally conductive polymers have attracted great interest in academia, as well as in industry, due to their advantageous multilateral characteristics. Whether polymer systems are intrinsically electro-conductive/thermo-conductive or this property is added by means of fillers, they often demonstrate robust mechanical performance, flexible processability, low-cost device fabrication, and, last but not least, controllable levels of electrical/thermal conductivity. In this Special Issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences journal, we set an interesting topic about Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications. It will publish the article, review, and perspective about recent progress in the fields of electrically/thermally conductive polymer and polymer composites, involving their synthesis, fabrication, chemistry, physics, processing, and simulation. We want to invite you to contribute your high-quality studies to this Special Issue.

Dr. Jingyao Sun
Guest Editor

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Keywords

polymer
polymer composites
electrical/thermal conductivity
intrinsically electrically/thermally
conductive polymers
electrically/thermally conductive fillers in polymers
polymer electronic devices
flexible/wearable conductive polymers
thermal management
simulation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5194 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation of Symmetrical Capacitors from Lignin-Derived Phenol and PANI Composites with Good Electrical Conductivity

by Penghui Li, Jiangdong Yu, Mingkang Wang, Wanting Su, Chi Yang, Bo Jiang and Wenjuan Wu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(10), 8661; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24108661 - 12 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1623

Abstract

As a natural polymer, lignin is only less abundant in nature than cellulose. It has the form of an aromatic macromolecule, with benzene propane monomers connected by molecular bonds such as C-C and C-O-C. One method to accomplish high-value lignin conversion is degradation. The use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) to degrade lignin is a simple, efficient and environmentally friendly degradation method. After degradation, the lignin is broken due to β-O-4 to produce phenolic aromatic monomers. In this work, lignin degradation products were evaluated as additives for the preparation of polyaniline conductive polymers, which not only avoids solvent waste but also achieves a high-value use of lignin. The morphological and structural characteristics of the LDP/PANI composites were investigated using ¹H NMR, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and elemental analysis. The LDP/PANI nanocomposite provides a specific capacitance of 416.6 F/g at 1 A/g and can be used as a lignin-based supercapacitor with good conductivity. Assembled as a symmetrical supercapacitor device, it provides an energy density of 57.86 Wh/kg, an excellent power density of 952.43 W/kg and, better still, a sustained cycling stability. Thus, the combination of polyaniline and lignin degradate, which is environmentally friendly, amplifies the capacitive function on the basis of polyaniline. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications)

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11 pages, 5065 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Boron Nitride/Polyurethane Composites with Good Thermal Conductivity and Flexibility

by Xinze Yang, Jiajing Zhang, Liangjun Xia, Jiahao Xu, Xuenan Sun, Chunhua Zhang and Xin Liu

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(9), 8221; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24098221 - 4 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2025

Abstract

Thermal insulating composites are indispensable in electronic applications; however, their poor thermal conductivity and flexibility have become bottlenecks for improving device operations. Hexagonal boron nitride (BN) has excellent thermal conductivity and insulating properties and is an ideal filler for preparing thermally insulating polymer composites. In this study, we report a method to fabricate BN/polyurethane (PU) composites using an improved nonsolvent-induced phase separation method with binary solvents to improve the thermal performance and flexibility of PU. The stress and strain of BN60/PU are 7.52 ± 0.87 MPa and 707.34 ± 38.34%, respectively. As prepared, BN60/PU composites with unordered BN exhibited high thermal conductivity and a volume resistivity of 0.653 W/(m·K) and 23.9 × 10¹² Ω·cm, which are 218.71 and 39.77% higher than that of pure PU, respectively. Moreover, these composite films demonstrated a thermal diffusion ability and maintained good integrity after 1000 bending cycles, demonstrating good mechanical and thermal reliability for practical use. Our findings provide a practical route for the production of flexible materials for efficient thermal management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications)

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15 pages, 3327 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploiting Enzyme in the Polymer Synthesis for a Remarkable Increase in Thermal Conductivity

by Anca Petran, Teodora Radu, Monica Dan and Alexandrina Nan

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(8), 7606; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24087606 - 20 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1165

Abstract

The interest in polymers with high thermal conductivity increased much because of their inherent properties such as low density, low cost, flexibility, and good chemical resistance. However, it is challenging to engineer plastics with good heat transfer characteristics, processability, and required strength. Improving the degree of the chain alignment and forming a continuous thermal conduction network is expected to enhance thermal conductivity. This research aimed to develop polymers with a high thermal conductivity that can be interesting for several applications. Two polymers, namely poly(benzofuran-co-arylacetic acid) and poly(tartronic-co-glycolic acid), with high thermal conductivity containing microscopically ordered structures were prepared by performing enzyme-catalyzed (Novozyme-435) polymerization of the corresponding α-hydroxy acids 4-hydroxymandelic acid and tartronic acid, respectively. A comparison between the polymer’s structure and heat transfer obtained by mere thermal polymerization before and enzyme-catalyzed polymerization will now be discussed, revealing a dramatic increase in thermal conductivity in the latter case. The polymer structures were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in liquid- and solid-state (ss-NMR), and powder X-ray diffraction. The thermal conductivity and diffusivity were measured using the transient plane source technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications)

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14 pages, 3473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultrasonic-Assisted Method for the Preparation of Carbon Nanotube-Graphene/Polydimethylsiloxane Composites with Integrated Thermal Conductivity, Electromagnetic Interference Shielding, and Mechanical Performances

by Chenglin Li, Zhenzhou Yang, Xiaowen Zhang, Yue Ru, Dali Gao, Daming Wu and Jingyao Sun

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(23), 15007; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232315007 - 30 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1683

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of the miniaturization and portability of electronic devices, the demand for polymer composites with high thermal conductivity and mechanical flexibility has significantly increased. A carbon nanotube (CNT)-graphene (Gr)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite with excellent thermal conductivity and mechanical flexibility is prepared by ultrasonic-assisted forced infiltration (UAFI). When the mass ratio of CNT and Gr reaches 3:1, the thermal conductivity of the CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composite is 4.641 W/(m·K), which is 1619% higher than that of a pure PDMS matrix. In addition, the CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composite also has excellent mechanical properties. The tensile strength and elongation at break of CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composites are 3.29 MPa and 29.40%, respectively. The CNT-Gr/PDMS composite also shows good performance in terms of electromagnetic shielding and thermal stability. The PDMS composites have great potential in the thermal management of electronic devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications)

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18 pages, 4780 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Brush-like Polyaniline with Optical and Electroactive Properties at Neutral pH and High Temperature

by Alain Salvador Conejo-Dávila, Carlos Rafael Casas-Soto, Eider Pedro Aparicio-Martínez, David Chávez-Flores, Víctor Hugo Ramos-Sánchez, Rocio Berenice Dominguez, Velia Carolina Osuna, Anayansi Estrada-Monje, Alejandro Vega-Rios and Erasto Armando Zaragoza-Contreras

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(15), 8085; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23158085 - 22 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1795

Abstract

In this research, a brush-like polyaniline (poly(2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate)-g-polyaniline)-b-poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (BL PAni) was developed as a strategy to overcome the limited processability and dedoping above pH 4 of conventional polyaniline (PAni). For the BL PAni synthesis, RAFT polymerization (homopolymer), RAFT-mediated surfactant-free emulsion polymerization (block copolymer), and interfacial oxidative polymerization were applied to graft the PAni chains. NMR and FT-IR spectroscopies were performed to confirm the structural elucidation of the reaction pathways, while the thermal properties were analyzed by TGA and DSC. Notably, the BL PAni presents absorption throughout the visible region and up to the near-infrared, showing dedoping resistance at up to 80 °C and at a neutral pH. The absorption range of the BL PAni, block copolymer, and homopolymer were studied by UV–Vis spectroscopy in solid-state and dispersion/solution, highlighting BL PAni and poly(anilinium 2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate)-b-poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PAAMP-b-PVK) due to the π-stacking between the anilinium and carbazole groups. The cyclic voltammetry confirmed the persistence of electroactivity at a pH near 7. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrically/Thermally Conductive Polymers and Their Potential Applications)

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