Interfacial Engineering for the Synergistic Enhancement of Thermal Conductivity of Discotic Liquid Crystal Composites.

To develop an advanced heat transfer composite, a deeper understanding of the interfacial correlation between matrix and filler is of paramount importance. To verify the effect of interfacial correlations on the thermal conductivity, the conductive fillers such as expanded graphite (EG) and boron nitride (BN) are introduced in the discotic liquid crystal (DLC)-based polymeric matrix. The DLC matrix exhibits better interfacial affinity with EG compared to BN because of the strong π-π interactions between EG and DLC. Thanks to its excellent interfacial affinity, the EG-DLC composites show a synergistic increment in thermal conducting performance.