Developments and Opportunities in Temperature-Responsive Thermal Smart Materials

Controllable thermal management is essential in environmental-sensitive application scenarios, such as lithium batteries, data centers, and human body systems. This necessity has spurred the development of next-generation intelligent materials. Thermal smart materials (TSMs), which can self-adjust their thermal conductivity (TC) in a specific temperature range in response to external stimuli, have attracted significant interest due to their advantages over traditional temperature control systems or devices, including convenience, efficiency, and compact structure. Here, an overview of the non-temperature-responsive TSMs stimulated is first presented by various factors such as electrical/magnetic, light, mechanical force, humidity, and temperature, followed by a focused summary of the key mechanisms underlying temperature-responsive TSMs that have thermal sensitivity. By addressing existing gaps and opportunities in the field of TSMs, we outlook future directions of thermoresponsive TSMs from three aspects: crystal state transition, reconfigurable chemical structures, and temperature-based multi-mechanism coupling. Finally, the potential applications of TSMs in data centers, electronic components, and individual thermal management are discussed. Based on the existing research on TSMs and the advances in related fields, we hope this perspective will guide the future development of high-performance TSMs.