Enhanced thermal conductivity and retained electrical insulation of epoxy composites filled with Cu@BaTiO3 core–shell particles

Abstract The application of polymer for thermal interface materials is limited by its low thermal conductivity. In this work, barium titanate coated Cu core–shell particles were prepared and then employed as thermal conductive fillers to reinforce epoxy matrix. The results indicate that thermal conductivity of the Cu@BaTiO3/epoxy composites reaches 1.09 W m-1K−1 at 10 vol% loading, achieving 580% elevation on neat epoxy matrix. Meanwhile, the composites retain high electrical insulation (7.90 × 1013 Ω·cm) due to the existence of insulative BaTiO3 layer on Cu surface. This study will provide a novel insight of the design of functionalized core–shell thermal conductive fillers and construction of high-performance thermal interface materials.