Constructing\nthe Snail Shell-Like Framework in Thermal\nInterface Materials for Enhanced Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity

Melioration of the through-plane\nthermal conductivity (TC) of thermal\ninterface materials (TIMs) is a sore need for efficient heat dissipation\nto handle an overheating concern of high-power-density electronics.\nHerein, we constructed a snail shell-like thermal conductive framework\nto facilitate vertical heat conduction in TIMs. With inspiration from\nspirally growing calcium carbonate platelets of snail shells, a facile\ndouble-microrod-assisted curliness method was developed to spirally\ncoil boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS)/aramid nanofiber (ANF) laminates\nwhere interconnected BNNSs lie along the horizontal plane. Thus, vertical\nalignment of BNNSs in the resultant TIM was achieved, exhibiting a\nthrough-plane TC enhancement of ∼100% compared to the counterpart\nwith randomly distributed BNNSs at the same BNNS addition (50 wt %).\nThe Foygel’s nonlinear model revealed that this unique snail\nshell-like BNNS framework reduced interfacial thermal resistance by\n4 orders of magnitude. Our TIM showed superior interfacial thermal\ndissipation efficiency, leading to a temperature reduction of 42.6\n°C for the LED chip compared to the aforementioned counterpart.\nOur work paves a valuable way for fabricating high-performance TIMs\nto ensure reliable operation of electrical devices.