Spotlight Publication: “Bidirectional Modulation of Contact Thermal Resistance between Boron Nitride Nanotubes from a Polymer Interlayer” published in Nano Letters
About the author: Zhiliang Pan is currently a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering Department advised by Dr. Deyu Li. Zhiliang’s research focuses on nanoscale heat transfer in low dimensional materials and complex structures. In the recently published work, he studied the thermal transport at BNNT tube contact with/without polymer interlayer and disclosed the bidirectional modulation of contact thermal conductance from a PVP interlayer. Analysis shows thermal conductance is largely limited by the reflection of ballistic phonon at the tube contact. Competing effects are triggered by the PVP interlayer. On one hand, PVP interlayer can effectively eliminate the phonon reflection. On the other hand, PVP interlayer itself serves as a diffusive resistor. The net outcome is that contact thermal resistance is reduced for larger tubes and enhanced for smaller tubes with sever phonon reflection. These findings provide insights for better designing high thermal conductivity BNNT-polymer composites.