Nanopolyhybrids: Materials, Engineering Designs, and Advances in Thermal Management

Abstract

The fundamental requirements for thermal comfort along with the unbalanced growth in the energy demand and consumption worldwide have triggered the development and innovation of advanced materials for high thermal-management capabilities. However, continuous development remains a significant challenge in designing thermally robust materials for the efficient thermal management of industrial devices and manufacturing technologies. The notable achievements thus far in nanopolyhybrid design technologies include multiresponsive energy harvesting/conversion (e.g., light, magnetic, and electric), thermoregulation (including microclimate), energy saving in construction, as well as the miniaturization, integration, and intelligentization of electronic systems. These are achieved by integrating nanomaterials and polymers with desired engineering strategies. Herein, fundamental design approaches that consider diverse nanomaterials and the properties of nanopolyhybrids are introduced, and the emerging applications of hybrid composites such as personal and electronic thermal management and advanced medical applications are highlighted. Finally, current challenges and outlook for future trends and prospects are summarized to develop nanopolyhybrid materials.

The master key: structural science in unlocking functional materials advancements

“…Techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), neutron scattering and electron microscopy enable researchers to determine the precise arrangement of atoms and molecules in crystalline and amorphous materials (Liebschner et al, 2019). This information is crucial for understanding how different materials interact with light, electricity and heat, laying the groundwork for developing materials with specific optical (Das et al, 2020;Sanderson & Castelvecchi, 2023), electrical (Li, Cai et al, 2023) and thermal properties (Atinafu et al, 2023). Moreover, the field of structural sciences contributes significantly to the characterization of nanomaterials.…”

Advances in Biocarbon and Soft Material Assembly for Enthalpy Storage: Fundamentals, Mechanisms, and Multimodal Applications

“…Their heat transport and enthalpy storage density usually depend on the orientation (horizontal and vertical alignments) of the carbon materials; rapid heat transfer is achieved in an anisotropic network. [12,224] Though carbon fibers can be easily obtained from biomass compared with other graphene and derivative materials, biomass has a well-defined original aligned structure and inherently unique orientation of carbon structures that provide high thermal transport and energy storage and conversion performance. Achieving conformal thermal contacts and minimizing the parasitic heat paths are also challenges and require solutions.…”

“…[10] The combination of soft materials and host material imbues synergistic properties and results in enhanced toughness, conductivity, thermal stability, and increased stiffness of soft materials owing to the capillary forces and surface tension between the host and guest materials. [11][12][13] A considerable material durability can allow consistent application of soft materials in emerging technologies and complicated environments, such as synchronous visible/infrared camouflage materials to counter multiband surveillance. [13,14] Hybrid materials offer the advantages of high thermomechanical properties that find applications in medical technology, energy storage and conversion, aerospace, and consumer products.…”

High Thermal Conductivity and Radiative Cooling Designed Boron Nitride Nanosheets/Silk Fibroin Films for Personal Thermal Management

“…Despite various efforts, current personal thermal management materials face limitations in terms of cooling performance. ,− Materials such as fabric, phase change materials, and thermal conductive films, although emerging in the field, demonstrate limited thermal transport capacity, resulting in suboptimal heat exchange between the body (the heat source) and the cooling apparatus. ,,− To be more specific, Gao reported a poly­(vinyl alcohol-based fabric with boron nitride nanosheets corporation but still unable to achieve significantly enhanced thermal conductivity owing to the three-dimensional printing strategy that will introduce much porosity to lower the thermal transport . Moreover, most of the current personal thermal management materials lack the ability to effectively cool in outdoor settings owing to that their thermal conductivity is improved by graphene, limiting their versatility across different indoor and outdoor conditions. ,− Furthermore, the majority of personal thermal management materials are not biobased, despite that wood and cotton are utilized as the matrix sometimes, and their biocompatibility and potential for commercialization have not been adequately evaluated. ,− …”