Efforts have been extensively undertaken to tackle overheating problems in advanced electronic devices characterized by high performance and integration levels. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) play a crucial role in connecting heat sources to heat sinks, facilitating efficient heat dissipation and thermal management. On the other hand, increasing the content of TIMs for high thermal conductivity often poses challenges such as poor dispersion and undesired heat flow pathways. This study aims to enhance the through-plane heat dissipation via the magnetic alignment of a hybrid filler system consisting of exfoliated graphite (EG) and boron nitride (BN). The EG acts as a distributed scaffold in the polymer matrix, while the BN component of the hybrid offers high thermal conductivity. Moreover, the magnetic alignment technique promotes unidirectional heat transfer pathways. The hybrid exhibited an impressive thermal conductivity of 1.44 W m− 1 K− 1 at filler contents of 30 wt. %, offering improved thermal management for advanced electronic devices.

Effects of alignment and size of fillers on the thermal conductivity of magnetic-responsive exfoliated graphite@BN epoxy composites
    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Experimental
        2.1 Materials
        2.2 Surface modification of exfoliated graphite
        2.3 Fabrication of the mEG@BN epoxy composites
        2.4 Characterization
    3 Result and discussion
        3.1 Characterization of the mEG@BN composite
        3.2 Interaction of the mEG@BN composite
        3.3 Alignment of mEG@BN composite
        3.4 Thermal conductivity of the mEG@BN composite
    4 Conclusions
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Hyunji Shin(Advanced Nanohybrids Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Education and Research Center for Smart Energy and Materials, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea)
• Seo Mi Yang(Advanced Nanohybrids Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Education and Research Center for Smart Energy and Materials, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea)
• Jae Seo Park(Advanced Nanohybrids Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Education and Research Center for Smart Energy and Materials, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea)
• Seung Jae Yang(Advanced Nanohybrids Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Education and Research Center for Smart Energy and Materials, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea) Corresponding author