Recently, thermally conductive composite/hybrid materials have attracted attention as heat dissipative materials for electric devices, communication equipment and lighting apparatuses, because the problems of the greater amount of heat generation from them occurred with the rapidly change of the denser and more powerful devices, equipment and apparatuses. Therefore, thermally conductive materials with high thermal conductivity for heat dissipation are required to remove the heat.
Thermal conductivity of plastics is generally very low although they have good mechanical and insulation properties, and processability with low cost, so that composite/hybrid materials have been developed to increase the thermal conductivity by incorporating inorganic fillers which show high thermal conductivity into plastics. Inorganic fillers must be packed at higher densities and control the interface with compatibility and interconnectivity between plastics and inorganic fillers in order to develop composite/hybrid materials with high thermal conductivity. The control of the interface between two components is important and key to create the good composite/hybrid materials with high performance, such as thermal conductivity, mechanical and electrical properties, and processability.
A recent development of thermally conductive materials based on organic - inorganic composite/hybrid materials with high thermal conductivity for heat dissipative materials was reviewed.