Hydraulic-driven adaptable morphing active-cooling elastomer with bioinspired bicontinuous phases

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 1179
• Main Authors: Yu, Dehai, Wang, Zhonghao, Chi, Guidong, Zhang, Qiubo, Fu, Junxian, Li, Maolin, Liu, Chuanke, Zhou, Quan, Li, Zhen, Chen, Du, Song, Zhenghe, He, Zhizhu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08-02-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/137; 639/166/987; 639/166/988; 639/301/1023/1025; 639/301/923/1028; Automation; Blood flow; Conduction; Conduction cooling; Conduction heating; Cooling; Cooling effects; Elastomers; Electronics; Energy harvesting; Flexible components; Heat conductivity; Heat sinks; Heat transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydraulic pressure; Hydraulics; Liquid metals; Manufacturing engineering; Morphing; multidisciplinary; Robotics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Skeleton; Stretchability; Surface roughness; Thermal conductivity; Thermal energy; Thermoregulation; Tissues; Vasodilation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45562-y

The active-cooling elastomer concept, originating from vascular thermoregulation for soft biological tissue, is expected to develop an effective heat dissipation method for human skin, flexible electronics, and soft robots due to the desired interface mechanical compliance. However, its low thermal conduction and poor adaptation limit its cooling effects. Inspired by the bone structure, this work reports a simple yet versatile method of fabricating arbitrary-geometry liquid metal skeleton-based elastomer with bicontinuous Gyroid-shaped phases, exhibiting high thermal conductivity (up to 27.1 W/mK) and stretchability (strain limit >600%). Enlightened by the vasodilation principle for blood flow regulation, we also establish a hydraulic-driven conformal morphing strategy for better thermoregulation by modulating the hydraulic pressure of channels to adapt the complicated shape with large surface roughness (even a concave body). The liquid metal active-cooling elastomer, integrated with the flexible thermoelectric device, is demonstrated with various applications in the soft gripper, thermal-energy harvesting, and head thermoregulation.
Low thermal conduction and conformability of traditional rigid heat sinks limit their adoption in flexible electronics and soft robotics. Here, authors report a liquid metal skeleton-based active-cooling elastomer with high thermal conductivity, stretchability, and hydraulic-driven adaptable morphing.