An overview of polymer-based thermally conductive functional materials

With the continuous development of electronic devices and the information industry towards miniaturization, integration, and high-power consumption, the using of electronic devices will inevitably generate and accumulate heat, which will cause local high temperatures and will seriously reduce their performance, reliability, and lifetime. Therefore, having efficient heat-conducting functional materials is crucial to the normal and stable operation of electrical equipment and microelectronic products. In view of the excellent comprehensive performance of polymer-based thermally conductive materials (including intrinsic polymers and filler-filled polymer-based composites), it has shown great advantages in thermal management applications. In this review, the research status of preparing polymer-based thermally conductive composites and effective strategies to improve their thermal conductivity (TC) are reviewed. Compared with the higher cost and technical support with adjusting the molecular chain structure and cross-linking mode to improve the intrinsic TC of the polymer, introducing suitable fillers into the polymer to build a thermally conductive network or oriented structure can simply and efficiently improve the overall TC. Typical applications of polymer-based composites were discussed with detailed examples in the field of electronic packaging. Challenges and possible solutions to solve the issues are discussed together with the perspectives. This study provides guidance for the future development of polymer-based thermally conductive composites.