Liquid‐Metal Infused Soft and Multifunctional Elastomeric Smart Thermal Management Device
Abstract The complex design of heat exchanger modules, the reliance on rigid materials, and the susceptibility of thermoelectric devices to inadvertent heating in current technologies highlight the critical need for a streamlined yet multifunctional thermal management solution. This work addresses the technological gap in thermal management devices by introducing an innovative liquid‐metal (LM) infused elastomeric composite hybridized with Fe microparticles. The potential of high internal magnetostrictive strain, driven by an external magnetic field similar to Galfenol alloys – is explored, achieving a voltage output ≈350 mV under a minimal AC magnetic field of 0.4 Oe. Interestingly, the adaptiveness of the LM inclusions toward external mechanical stimuli induces a transition into a “metallic‐elastomer‐like” state. Such piezo‐sensitive, magnetostrictive, and compliant nature of the fabricated material are exploited to visualize and validate a proof‐of‐concept thermal management device with dual‐purpose applicability, either as a heating device or a dissipative one. The thermoregulation efficiency of the device is attributed to the simple Joule heating effect and a maximum temperature of ≈40 °C is achieved from ambient, under 3 min with a maximum achieved heating power of ≈0.49 W.
Authors
- Dhiman Mallick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6637-2558)
- Shib Shankar Banerjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2097-8458)
- Dibyajyoti Mukherjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3201-4944)
- Pratip Sankar Banerjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-8686)
Institutions
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials Technologies
- Published
- 2025-07-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202500262
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.35
Funders
- Ministry of Education, India
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi