Symposium SF15—Thermal Processes and Management Under Unconventional Conditions

Anh Tuan Nguyen, University of Hawaiʽi at Manoa

Thermal Conductivity of Electrospun PEO/PEDOT:PSS Nanofiber Produced by Near-Field Electrospinning Method

Written by Corrisa Heyes

Anh Tuan Nguyen reported on the development of a suspended micro-island device method of measuring thermal conductivity of PEO/PEDOT:PSS near-field electrospun polymer nanofibers. Light weight, low cost, polymer nanofibers are generally considered to be insulators at bulk scale; however, applications for polymer nanofibers require higher thermal conductivity values. This work demonstrated that higher molecular weight PEO/PEDOT:PSS polymer nanofibers have 4× improved thermal conductivity compared to their low weight counterparts (which generally match the bulk scale thermal conductivity value). Additionally, data explains the glass transition effect on thermal conductivity measurements generated in the measurement process. Future work includes generating a cross-link between PEO and PEDOT:PSS to further increase thermal conductivity of the polymer nanofiber.