Bio-Inspired Phase-Transition Logic Gates for Autonomous Thermal Management

Conventional thermal management strategies rely predominantly on passive heat dissipation or open-loop external control, struggling to address the transient and heterogeneous thermal loads of modern micro/nanodevices. Inspired by the sense-perceive-act closed-loop feedback of biological perspiration, we propose an autonomous thermal management strategy that encodes a first-order solid-liquid phase transition as a molecular logic gate. Within this phase-change-gated polymer network (Perspire X), the melting of polyethylene glycol (PEG) acts as a physical threshold. Surpassing this critical temperature triggers a macroscopic network arrangement, directly translating thermal sensing into an accelerated on-demand water release. We define a logic-gating figure of merit (LG-FOM) of 2.62 to quantify this behavior, demonstrating the discretized and switchable regulation of coupled mass and heat transport channels. Consequently, the material exhibits non-linear cooling amplification, achieving a 20.8-fold extension in effective cooling duration and a 13.5°C temperature drop compared with traditional phase-transition cooling materials. Furthermore, it demonstrates robust mechanical integrity alongside an exceptional thermal buffering capacity that effectively buffers the simulated pulsed thermal fluctuations under the tested conditions. Transcending traditional passive heat sinks, this phase-transition-gated transport mechanism outlines a scalable, materials-level thermodynamic programming strategy for next-generation electronics and intelligent energy systems.