Patterned liquid metal embedded in brush-shaped polymers for dynamic thermal management.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Thermal Engineering

Background:

• Interface thermal resistance hinders thermal management in high-performance electronics and sensors.
• Existing thermal interface materials (TIMs) struggle to balance high thermal conductivity with soft elasticity, especially for dynamic or irregular surfaces.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel soft composite material that simultaneously achieves high thermal conductivity and soft elasticity for effective thermal management.
• To address the challenge of creating TIMs suitable for complex operational conditions with dynamic and irregular surfaces.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a composite using vertically oriented graphene aerogel (VGA) and designed liquid metal (LM) networks for directional thermal pathways.
• Integration of brush-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (BPDMS) to enhance elasticity and deformation capabilities.
• Characterization of the composite's thermal conductivity, elastic modulus, resilience, and interface thermal resistance.

Main Results:

• The developed composite (LM-VGA/BPDMS) exhibits high thermal conductivity (7.11 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and an ultra-low elastic modulus (10.13 kPa).
• The material demonstrates excellent resilience and a low interface thermal resistance (14.1 K mm² W⁻¹).
• The composite shows stable heat dissipation and adaptability to dynamically changing and irregular interfaces.

Conclusions:

• The novel LM-VGA/BPDMS soft composite effectively overcomes the limitations of traditional TIMs.
• This material offers promising applications in interface thermal management and thermal sensing for extremely complex environments.
• The strategy provides a pathway for designing advanced materials with tailored thermal and mechanical properties.