The electrical and thermal properties of polyimide/boron nitride nanocomposite films

In the paper, the polyimide (PI)/boron nitride (BN) nanocomposites were prepared by in situ polymerization and exhibited enhanced electrical property and thermal stability. The structure of synthesized PI was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, and Fourier transform infrared. The influence of doping concentrations on the relative permittivity, electrical conductivity, loss tangent, corona-resistant lifetime, and thermal stability of PI composites was investigated. Results showed that the relative permittivity of PI/BN composites increases after doping BN nanoparticles. It was noteworthy that both the electrical conductivity and loss tangent of PI composites were enhanced in low frequency (0–3000 Hz) and the situations were shifted in high frequency (>3000 Hz). It was observed that the corona-resistant lifetime of PI/BN composite with 20 wt% BN increases more than eight times. Moreover, significant improvements in the thermal stability of PI composites were achieved by addition of only a small amount of BN. The decomposition temperatures at 5 and 10% weight loss were 518.7 and 551.6 °C for 15 wt% doped PI/BN composite, respectively, which increases by 37.3 and 40.5 °C compared to those of pure PI. The resulting properties expand further the application range of polyimides.