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Carbon nanotube (CNT)/metal composites have attracted much attention due to their enhanced electrical and thermal performance. How to achieve the scalable fabrication of composites with efficient dispersion of CNTs to boost their performance remains a challenge for their wide realistic applications. Herein, the nanoscale dispersion of CNTs in the Stannum (Sn) matrix to boost thermal and electrical conductivity via facile ball milling techniques was demonstrated. The results revealed that CNTs were tightly attached to metal Sn, resulting in a much lower resistivity than that of bare Sn. The resistivity of Sn with 1 wt.% and 2 wt.% CNTs was 0.087 mΩ·cm and 0.056 mΩ·cm, respectively. The theoretical calculation showed that there was an electronic state near the Fermi level, suggesting its electrical conductivity had been improved to a certain extent. In addition, the thermal conductivity of Sn with 2 wt.% CNTs was 1.255 W·m−1·K−1. Moreover, Young's modulus of the composites with CNTs mass fraction of 10 wt.% had low values (0.933 MPa) under low strain conditions, indicating the composite shows good potential for various applications with different flexible requirements. The good electrical and thermal conductive CNT networks were formed in the metal matrix via facile ball milling techniques. This strategy can provide guidance for designing high-performance metal samples and holds a broad application potential in electronic packaging and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally conductive and electrically insulating composites are important for the thermal management of new generation integrated and miniaturized electronic devices. A practical and eco−friendly electrostatic self−assembly method was developed to prepare boron nitride−multilayer graphene (BN−MG) hybrid nanosheets. Then, BN−MG was filled into silicone rubber (SR) to fabricate BN−MG/SR composites. Compared with MG/SR composites with the same filler loadings, BN−MG/SR composites exhibit dramatically enhanced electrical insulation properties while still maintaining excellent thermal conductivity. The BN−MG/SR with 10 wt.% filler loading shows a thermal conductivity of 0.69 W·m−1·K−1, which is 475% higher than that of SR (0.12 W·m−1·K−1) and only 9.2% lower than that of MG/SR (0.76 W·m−1·K−1). More importantly, owing to the electron blocking effect of BN, the electron transport among MG sheets is greatly decreased, thus contributing to the high−volume resistivity of 4 × 1011 Ω cm for BN−MG/SR (10 wt.%), which is fourorders higher than that of MG/SR (2 × 107 Ω·cm). The development of BN−MG/SR composites with synergetic properties of high thermal conductivity and satisfactory electrical insulation is supposed to be a promising candidate for practical application in the electronic packaging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]