Surface modification of boron nitride by bio-inspired polydopamine and different chain length polyethylenimine co-depositing

We established a novel, easy, and versatile method of obtaining diverse and controllable interphases between epoxy resin and fillers. The method involved the co-deposition of polydopamine (PDA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) with different molecular lengths on boron nitride (BN) surface. The obtained PDA/PEI-modified BN composites showed significantly improved mechanical properties, including tensile strength, toughness, and elongation at break. For example, the tensile strength, fracture toughness, and elongation at break of EP composite increased by 51%, 132%, and 170% compared with EP when the PEI molecular weight was 10 000, respectively. These results suggested that the interphases between BN and EP matrix can be adjusted by changing the molecular lengths of grafted modifiers, thereby offering a new method for the reasonable designing and exploitation of the BN-based composite materials.