SURFACE MODIFIED HEXAGOBAL BORON NITRIDE AS PROPER NANOFILLER FOR THERMAL MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets have been widely used to create fluids for thermal management applications due to their high thermal conductivity. For better dispersion, h-BN nanosheets were functionalized with hexadecylamine (HDA) to induce the exfoliation of the layered structure of h-BN. It is expected that surface modification provides good compatibility and a good dispersion of h-BN nanosheets in oil-based nanofluid and enhances its thermal conductivity. Modification of h-BN nanosheets was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Also, the attachment of HDA modifier agent on the surface of h-BN nanosheets was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD). FT-IR and TGA results indicated that HDA was successfully grafted onto the h-BN nanosheets. In addition, the morphology and crystalline structure of h-BN nanosheets before and after the modification processes were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD, respectively. The oil-based nanofluid containing 0.05% h-BN nanosheets shows an improvement in thermal conductivity, 36% higher than that for pristine oil.