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

Dehai Yu, Zhonghao Wang, Guidong Chi, Qiubo Zhang, Junxian Fu, Maolin Li, Chuanke Liu, Quan Zhou, Zhen Li, Du Chen, Zhenghe Song and Zhizhu He ()
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Dehai Yu: China Agricultural University
Zhonghao Wang: China Agricultural University
Guidong Chi: China Agricultural University
Qiubo Zhang: China Agricultural University
Junxian Fu: China Agricultural University
Maolin Li: China Agricultural University
Chuanke Liu: China Agricultural University
Quan Zhou: China Agricultural University
Zhen Li: China Agricultural University
Du Chen: China Agricultural University
Zhenghe Song: China Agricultural University
Zhizhu He: China Agricultural University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45562-y

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