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Pool-Boiling Heat-Transfer Enhancement on Cylindrical Surfaces with Hybrid Wettable Patterns
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High temperature evaporative cooler utilizing boiling suppression at water's boiling point
Ranran Fang1,2, Zeyu Sun3, Quan Chen3
1School of Integrated Circuits, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China. fangrr@cqupt.edu.cn.
Nature Communications
|December 18, 2025
Summary
Researchers suppressed boiling using special surfaces, enabling efficient steam generation for advanced evaporative cooling systems. This innovation offers significant temperature reduction for applications like power generation and engines.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Thermodynamics
- Heat Transfer
Background:
- Boiling heat transfer is crucial for many industrial processes.
- Traditional evaporative cooling faces limitations in high-temperature environments.
- Bubble formation during boiling can lead to inefficiencies and surface fouling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate boiling suppression on superhydrophilic nano/microstructured surfaces.
- To develop a high-temperature dew point evaporative cooler utilizing this phenomenon.
- To explore practical applications in energy and engineering systems.
Main Methods:
- Experimental investigation of water film boiling on hierarchical nano/microstructured surfaces.
- Fabrication of superhydrophilic surfaces with controlled wettability.
- Development and testing of a prototype dew point evaporative cooler.
Main Results:
- Boiling suppression was achieved, enabling intense interfacial steam generation without bubble formation.
- The evaporative cooler reduced airflow temperature from 437 °C to below ambient.
- Effective cooling was also demonstrated below the boiling point, lowering air temperature from 43 °C to 16.7 °C.
Conclusions:
- Superhydrophilic hierarchical surfaces can effectively suppress boiling.
- A novel high-temperature dew point evaporative cooler was successfully developed.
- The technology holds promise for applications in power generation, internal combustion engines, and AI systems.
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