Thermal conductivity of graphite nanofibers electrospun from graphene oxide-doped polyimide

Aromatic polyimide (PI)-based graphite nanofibers were obtained from the graphitization of graphene oxide (GO)-doped electrospun PI nanofibers. GO improves the PI molecular orientation, crystalline structure and thermal conductivity of the resulting nanofibers. The degree of PI molecular orientation in the nanofibers is increased by the GO during fiber preparation. This improvement in molecular orientation produces an increase in the thermal conductivity of the graphite nanofibers, and the addition of only 0.1% GO has a significant effect. The GO not only affects the thermal conductivity, but improves the PI molecular orientation and its role as nucleation centers during graphitization. This approach and the resulting high thermal conductivity materials show great potential for practical applications.