Liquid-infused nanostructured composite as a high-performance thermal interface material for effective cooling

Cheng, Rui; Wang, Qixian; Wang, Zexiao; Jing, Lin; Garcia-Caraveo, Ana V.; Li, Zhuo; Zhong, Yibai; Liu, Xiu; Luo, Xiao; Huang, Tianyi; Yun, Hyeong Seok; Salihoglu, Hakan; Russell, Loren; Kazem, Navid; Chen, Tianyi; Shen, Sheng

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56163-8

Liquid-infused nanostructured composite as a high-performance thermal interface material for effective cooling

Journal Article · Sat Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56163-8· OSTI ID:2502115

^[1]; Wang, Qixian ^[1]; Wang, Zexiao ^[1]; Jing, Lin ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; Huang, Tianyi ^[1]; Yun, Hyeong Seok ^[1]; Salihoglu, Hakan ^[1]; Russell, Loren ^[3]; Kazem, Navid ^[3]; ^[2]; ^[1]

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (United States)
Arieca, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

Effective heat dissipation remains a grand challenge for energy-dense devices and systems. As heterogeneous integration becomes increasingly inevitable in electronics, thermal resistance at interfaces has emerged as a critical bottleneck for thermal management. However, existing thermal interface solutions are constrained by either high thermal resistance or poor reliability. We report a strategy to create printable, high-performance liquid-infused nanostructured composites, comprising a mechanically soft and thermally conductive double-sided Cu nanowire array scaffold infused with a customized thermal-bridge liquid that suppresses contact thermal resistance. The liquid infusion concept is versatile for a broad range of thermal interface applications. Remarkably, the liquid metal infused nanostructured composite exhibits an ultra-low thermal resistance <1 mm² K W^-1 at interface, outperforming state-of-the-art thermal interface materials on chip-cooling. The high reliability of the nanostructured composites enables undegraded performance through extreme temperature cycling. We envision liquid-infused nanostructured composites as a universal thermal interface solution for cooling applications in data centers, GPU/CPU systems, solid-state lasers, and LEDs.

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Research Organization:: University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0001761

OSTI ID:: 2502115

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2504628

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 16, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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