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Liquid metal-based flexible and wearable thermoelectric cooling structure and cooling performance optimization

液态金属基柔性可穿戴热电冷却结构及冷却性能优化

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Abstract

Soft wearable cooling devices using flexible thermoelectric coolers (TECs) are highly advantageous for diverse applications. However, challenges remain in low cooling capacity, short device lifetime, and limited understandings of the impact of thermoelectric component’s dimension, structure and density on their cooling capacity. Here, we addressed these issues by engineering a large-electrode flexible TEC composed of thermoelectric components embedded in a three-layer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix interconnected with biphasic liquid metal traces (core-shell structured liquid metal nanoparticles and nickel-doped GaIn). Attributed to the larger electrodes and three-layer PDMS, the TECs significantly reduce the amount of liquid metal used, minimize the risk of leakage, lower the cost, eliminate environmental pollution, and improve product reliability and manufacturing efficiency. We further optimized the TEC structure design by finite element analysis, providing a generic TEC design kit taking into account multiple physical fields and impact factors. The demonstrated TECs offer high cooling capacity (7.4°C) and great performance stability under deformation, which outperform previously reported models that use similar materials and structures. This work represents a significant step forward in the development of flexible TECs, with promising applications in fields such as wearable devices, electronic skins, and smart textiles.

摘要

为了提高柔性热电冷却器(TEC)的冷却能力, 解决液态金属材料的泄漏问题, 同时研究热电腿的尺寸、 密度和形状对TEC冷却能力的影响. 本文将具有液态核心氧化壳结构的Ni-GaIn(掺镍液态金属)和LMPs(液态金属纳米颗粒)引入柔性TEC中, 并针对材料的特性, 采用“较大的电极”和“三层PDMS”对传统的热电冷却结构进行了改进. 采用“大电极”和“三层PDMS”解决了液态金属量大、 易泄漏的问题, 降低了成本和环境污染, 提高了产品可靠性和制造效率. 利用有限元分析软件对结构进行了进一步优化, 提供了多物理场和多因素影响下的TEC设计方案. 与已报道的采用EGaIn互连和传统热电冷却结构的柔性TEC相比, 本文制备的两种新型柔性TEC分别具有冷却能力高(7.4°C)和性能稳定(受弯曲变形影响小)的特点.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52203371 and 52271021). The authors thank the Analysis & Testing Center and Micro & Nano Fabrication Center at Beijing Institute of Technology for technical supports on SEM/XRD/XPS characterizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Mingkun Yang  (杨明坤), Guanqi Li  (李冠锜), Jiaqi Song  (宋佳麒), Hong Li  (李红), Xiuchen Zhao  (赵修臣) & Yongjun Huo  (霍永隽)

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520, USA

    Yue Gu  (谷悦)

Authors
  1. Mingkun Yang  (杨明坤)
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  2. Guanqi Li  (李冠锜)
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  3. Yue Gu  (谷悦)
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  4. Jiaqi Song  (宋佳麒)
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  5. Hong Li  (李红)
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  6. Xiuchen Zhao  (赵修臣)
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Contributions

Author contributions Huo Y and Yang M conceived and designed the experiments. Yang M and Li G did the synthesis experiments and wrote the manuscript draft. Yang M and Huo Y analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. Yang M, Li G, Gu Y, Song J, Li H, Zhao X and Huo Y contributed to the data analysis. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yue Gu  (谷悦) or Yongjun Huo  (霍永隽).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Mingkun Yang is a doctoral candidate at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), China, under the supervision of Prof. Yongjun Huo. His research focuses on the electronic packaging technology, high-density integrated circuit packaging, and transient liquid phase microconnects.

YongJun Huo is currently a pre-appointed associate professor at BIT. He is currently the head of the university-level experimental platform for heterogeneous integration of micro and nano materials. He received his PhD degree from the University of California, Irvine in 2017, under the supervision of Prof. Chin C. Lee, an IEEE Lifetime Fellow, who was awarded the IEEE EPS Award in 2021. He has eight years of overseas working experience in the US and has been committed to the academic research of high-reliability integrated circuits and high-power chip packaging technology. He was granted one international PCT patent for his invention of low-temperature micro-connection technology, which can fundamentally solve a series of common technical problems that have long hindered the development of aerospace-specific electronic packaging and integration technology. His main research direction is high-power optoelectronic device packaging, heterogeneous material integration processes, low-temperature transient liquid-phase micro-nano interconnects, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy materials characterization.

Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

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Yang, M., Li, G., Gu, Y. et al. Liquid metal-based flexible and wearable thermoelectric cooling structure and cooling performance optimization. Sci. China Mater. 66, 4001–4011 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-023-2607-3

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