Efficient preparation of polydimethylsiloxane-based phase change composites by forced network assembly with outstanding thermal management capability

Phase change materials (PCMs) have been widely used in passive thermal management and energy storage due to their high latent heat capacity. However, the low thermal conductivity and leakage problems of PCMs are two bottlenecks for its application in the field of heat-related applications. Although many present studies can tackle one or two of these problems by preparing phase change composites (PCCs), it is still a challenge to achieve high performance PCCs with excellent thermal, mechanical, and phase change properties simultaneously. In this work, we report a spatial confining forced network assembly (SCFNA) method to efficiently prepare the thermal conductive, flexible, leak-proof hexagonal boron nitride/paraffin wax/ polydimethylsiloxane (hBN/PW/PDMS) PCCs by constructing hBN and PW thermal conductive networks as the functional matrix of PCCs. In the hBN/PW/PDMS PCCs, PW is served as the PCM, a dense hBN network provides the high thermal conductivity, and the mechanical properties and shape stability are provided by PDMS. The hBN/PW/PDMS PCCs as thermal interface materials reduce the LED chips surface temperature and exhibit efficient and reliable thermal management performance. Our work provides an efficient and economical method for the preparation of PCCs with outstanding thermal management capability.