Recent Advances in Design and Preparation of Polymer-Based Thermal Management Material

Abstract

The boosting of consumer electronics and 5G technology cause the continuous increment of the power density of electronic devices and lead to inevitable overheating problems, which reduces the operation efficiency and shortens the service life of electronic devices. Therefore, it is the primary task and a prerequisite to explore innovative material for meeting the requirement of high heat dissipation performance. In comparison with traditional thermal management material (e.g., ceramics and metals), the polymer-based thermal management material exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical insulation, chemical resistance and processing properties, and therefore is considered to be the most promising candidate to solve the heat dissipation problem. In this review, we summarized the recent advances of two typical polymer-based thermal management material including thermal-conduction thermal management material and thermal-storage thermal management material. Furtherly, the structural design, processing strategies and typical applications for two polymer-based thermal management materials were discussed. Finally, we proposed the challenges and prospects of the polymer-based thermal management material. This work presents new perspectives to develop advanced processing approaches and construction high-performance polymer-based thermal management material.

Keywords: phase-change material; thermal conductivity; thermal management material; thermally conductive polymer composites.

Figure 1

Schemes of two important types of polymer-based thermal management material reported in this review.

Figure 2

Thermal conductivity of intrinsic thermally conductive polymers depends on various factors that need to be considered.

Figure 3

Schematics of the influence of (a) molecular chain structure [20] (Copyright (2012) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.) and (b) crystal morphology [22] on thermal conductivity (Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.).

Figure 4

Schematic representation of heat flux in polycarbonate/BN/Al₂O₃ composites (a) oriented BN platelets for high in-plane thermal conductivity, (b) oriented BN platelets with spherical Al₂O₃ acting as abridge for both high in-plane and through-plane thermal conductivity [32] (Copyright (2021) with permission from Wiley Periodicals, Inc.).

Figure 5

Schematic diagrams of thermally conductive polymer composites with high thermal conductivity by adding (a) carbon material [53] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (b) metals [55] (Copyright (2020) with permission from American Chemical Society) and (c) ceramics [67] (Copyright (2019) with permission from Wiley Periodicals, Inc.).

Figure 6

Illustration of approaches to construct an interconnected network of fillers by (a) vacuum-assisted layer-by-layer self-assembly strategy [47] (Copyright (2020) with permission from Elsevier B.V.), (b) ice-templating self-assembly strategy [84] (Copyright (2018) with permission from American Chemical Society), (c) CVD [85] (Copyright (2016) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (d) mold pressing [80] (Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (e) 3D printing [86] (Copyright (2021) with permission from American Chemical Society) and (f) electrospinning [79] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Wiley Periodicals, Inc.).

Figure 7

Illustration of preparation of shape-stabilized composite PCM by (a) encapsulated methods [110] (Copyright (2020) with permission from Elsevier B.V.), (b) introducing supporting material [111] (Copyright (2017) with permission from Elsevier B.V.) and (c) fabricating novel solid–solid composite PCM [112] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Elsevier B.V.).

Figure 8

Various types of shell material have been applied to prepare PCM capsules: (a) polymers [125] (Copyright (2020) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (b) inorganic material [129] (Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (c,d) polymer/inorganic hybrid material [123,130] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Elsevier Ltd. Copyright (2020) with permission from the American Chemical Society).

Figure 9

SEM images of (a) EVM [147] (Copyright (2021) with permission from Elsevier B.V.), (b) diatomite [133] (Copyright (2015) with permission from Royal Society of Chemistry), (c) EG [43] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (d) 3D porous diamond foam [137] (Copyright (2018) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.).

Figure 10

Schematic diagram of preparation of thermally enhanced composite PCM by introducing different types of thermally conductive fillers: (a) metals [152] (Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (b,c) ceramics [153,154] (Copyright (2019) with permission from American Chemical Society. Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier Ltd.), (d) 3D porous frameworks [155] (Copyright (2019) with permission from Elsevier B.V.).