Liquid Metal-Bridged ZnO-based Heterostructures for Enhancing Thermal Conductivity of Polydimethylsiloxane

With the integration and miniaturization of high-power electronic devices, developing thermal interface materials with high thermal conductivity is crucial to reducing the interfacial thermal resistance caused by fillers. Herein, a novel polymer-based thermal interface material (PDMS/ZZ@P/L) was reported, which was prepared using an in-situ growth method with ZnO/ZIF-8 heterostructure fillers. This material combined liquid metal and paraffin to fill the interface gaps and pores, forming a continuous thermally conductive network. Compared to PDMS, the thermal conductivity of the composites increased by approximately 929.4 %, and the temperature difference between PDMS/ZZ@P/L and PDMS under the same conditions reached 18.9 degrees C, while finite element simulations confirmed the enhanced thermal conductivity. In addition, the Young's modulus of PDMS/ZZ@P/L increased by approximately 1.7 %. More importantly, PDMS/ZZ@P/L exhibited excellent deicing performance, with the deicing time reduced by approximately 1.73 times. This work expands the research ideas for developing multifunctional thermal interface materials with practical applications.