High thermal conductivity of polyethylene nanowire arrays fabricated by an improved nanoporous template wetting technique

Bing Yang Cao, Yuan Wei Li, Jie Kong, Heng Chen, Yan Xu, Kai Leung Yung, An Cai

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

97 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Generally polymer bulk structures and nanostructures are thermally insulative. In this study, we show that an improved nanoporous template wetting technique can prepare thermally conductive polymer nanowire arrays. The thermal conductivities of the fabricated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) nanowire arrays with diameters of 100 nm and 200 nm, measured by a laser flash method, are about 2 orders of magnitude higher than their bulk counterparts. The estimated thermal conductivity of a single HDPE nanowire is as high as 26.5 W/mK at room temperature. The high orientation of chains of the HDPE nanowires may arise from the integrative effects of shear rate, vibrational perturbation, translocation, nanoconfinement and crystallization. Findings in this study provide useful strategies on enhancing the intrinsic thermal properties of polymer nanostructures.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1711-1715
Number of pages5
JournalPolymer
Volume52
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Apr 2011

Keywords

  • Nanoporous template wetting
  • Polymer nanowire array
  • Thermal conductivity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Organic Chemistry
  • Polymers and Plastics

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