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Alignment-assisted high thermal conductivity and thermal anisotropy in poly(methyl methacrylate)/graphene nanolaminates

Bohai Liu1, Christos Pavlou2,3, Meguya Ryu4,5, Ayumi Ishihara6, Jizhu Hu1,7, Costas Galiotis2,3,*, Junko Morikawa5,8,†, Xiangfan Xu1,‡, and George Fytas7,§

  • *Contact author: c.galiotis@iceht.forth.gr
  • †Contact author: morikawa.j.4f50@m.isct.ac.jp
  • ‡Contact author: xuxiangfan@tongji.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: fytas@mpip-mainz.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 014056 – Published 30 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5zfl-986l

Abstract

Understanding heat transport at the graphene-polymer (Gr-polymer) interface is the key to improve the thermal conductivity of Gr-based nanocomposites. Here, we fabricate poly (methyl methacrylate)/graphene (PMMA/Gr) nanolaminates and find an ultrahigh increase of the in-plane thermal conductivity (8.9 ± 0.9 Wm−1K−1) compared to net PMMA and the thermal conductivity anisotropy (approximately equal to 53) at low Gr loading (1 vol. %). The strong anisotropic thermal conduction can be attributed to the predominantly in-plane oriented Gr nanoflake and, intriguingly, the graphene-induced planar alignment of PMMA in the proximity of Gr, as revealed by polarized infrared spectroscopic (p-IR) imaging, nano-FTIR and IR s-SNOM. We demonstrated the contribution of interface-induced confinement to the observed thermal property, providing deeper insights into heat transport at the Gr-polymer interface.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 014056– Published 30 July, 2025
  • Received 17 November 2024
  • Revised 22 April 2025
  • Accepted 30 June 2025
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