An ultrathin high-performance heat spreader fabricated with hydroxylated boron nitride nanosheets

An ultrathin, highly thermally conductive heat spreader has been fabricated by layer-by-layer stacking of hydroxylated boron nitride nanosheets (HBNNS) for the first time. HBNNS were prepared by a molten hydroxide-assisted liquid exfoliation from hexagonal boron nitride powder. The as-prepared heat spreader of HBNNS exhibits a high thermal conductivity of 51.1 W m-1 K-1 along the in-plane direction, and can be further enhanced 14% by annealing for de-hydroxylation. This heat spreader with 10-30 μm in thickness possessed excellent thermal stability with negligible weight loss at wide temperature range up to 700 C, resulting in promising applications for heat dissipation in electronic components operated at high working temperature.