Mechanochemistry-mediated colloidal liquid metals for electronic device cooling at kilowatt levels

Abstract

Electronic systems and devices operating at significant power levels demand sophisticated solutions for heat dissipation. Although materials with high thermal conductivity hold promise for exceptional thermal transport across nano- and microscale interfaces under ideal conditions, their performance often falls short by several orders of magnitude in the complex thermal interfaces typical of real-world applications. This study introduces mechanochemistry-mediated colloidal liquid metals composed of Galinstan and aluminium nitride to bridge the practice–theory disparity. These colloids demonstrate thermal resistances of between 0.42 and 0.86 mm² K W⁻¹ within actual thermal interfaces, outperforming leading thermal conductors by over an order of magnitude. This superior performance is attributed to the gradient heterointerface with efficient thermal transport across liquid–solid interfaces and the notable colloidal thixotropy. In practical devices, experimental results demonstrate their capacity to extract 2,760 W of heat from a 16 cm² thermal source when coupled with microchannel cooling, and can facilitate a 65% reduction in pump electricity consumption. This advancement in thermal interface technology offers a promising solution for efficient and sustainable cooling of devices operating at kilowatt levels.