Investigation on the polyvinyl alcohol-based composite films with aluminum nitride decorated by silver nanoparticles as thermal fillers

A rapid and no pollution method was applied for the decoration of aluminum nitride (AlN) with silver (Ag) nanoparticles. Silver acetate (CH3COOAg) and AlN were mixed first and followed by heating in an inert atmosphere. The obtained product was used as thermal fillers to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based composite film. The results showed that the AlN decorated by an appropriate amount of Ag nanoparticles played a good role in improving the thermal conductivity, thermal stability, and puncture resistance of the PVA composite film. When the loading of Ag nanoparticles was 10 mol% and the content of thermal fillers was about 10 wt%, the thermal conductivity of the composite film reached 0.771 W·m− 1 K− 1 and increased by 101.3%. Meanwhile, the compatibility between thermal fillers and PVA and the thermal stability was the best among the composite films. In addition, the obtained composite film got strong puncture strength and the highest puncture strength was up to 143.4 N. Its tensile strength reached 85.52 Mpa and maintain flexibility.