Anchoring modified polystyrene to boron nitride nanosheets as highly thermal conductive composites for heat dissipation

Abstract Enhancing the heat dissipation capacity of polymer‐based composites requires effectively improving the compatibility of filler in a polymer matrix. Herein, hydroxylated boron nitride (BN‐OH) and modified polystyrene (mPS) are combined to achieve a high thermal conductive BN‐OH@mPS composite by using a facile in‐situ polymerization. Due to the strong interface interaction between BN‐OH and mPS, the proposed BN‐OH@mPS composite can have high thermal conductivity (TC). Specifically, the TC of the composite containing 10 wt% BN‐OH can reach 1.231 W/mK, which is 142% higher than that of BN/PS manufactured by a traditional method. Additionally, such a special structure brings a delayed decomposition process of the composite, making it possess high thermal stability. Overall, this serves as a universal route for developing thermal conductive non‐polar polymer/inorganic filler composites.