As nonlinear thermal devices,thermal regulators can intelligently respond to temperature and control heat flow through changes in heat transfer capacities,which allows them to reduce energy consumption without externa...As nonlinear thermal devices,thermal regulators can intelligently respond to temperature and control heat flow through changes in heat transfer capacities,which allows them to reduce energy consumption without external intervention.However,current thermal regulators generally based on high-quality crystallinestructure transitions are intrinsically rigid,which may cause structural damage and functional failure under mechanical strain;moreover,they are difficult to integrate into emerging soft electronic platforms.In this study,we develop a flexible,elastic thermal regulator based on the reversible thermally induced deformation of a liquid crystal elastomer/liquid metal(LCE/LM)composite foam.By adjusting the crosslinking densities,the LCE foam exhibits a high actuation strain of 121%with flexibility below the nematic–isotropic phase transition temperature(TNI)and hyperelasticity above TNI.The incorporation of LMresults in a high thermal resistance switching ratio of 3.8 over a wide working temperature window of 60◦C with good cycling stability.This feature originates from the synergistic effect of fragmentation and recombination of the internal LM network and lengthening and shortening of the bond line thickness.Furthermore,we fabricate a“grid window”utilizing photic-thermal integrated thermal control,achieving a superior heat supply of 13.7℃ at a light intensity of 180mW/cm^(2)and a thermal protection of 43.4℃at 1200 mW/cm^(2).The proposed method meets the mechanical softness requirements of thermal regulatormaterials with multimode intelligent temperature control.展开更多
基金National Key R&D Program of China,Grant/Award Number:2022YFB3805702National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Numbers:52173078,52130303,51973158,51803151,51973152,52303101,52327802+1 种基金Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars in Tianjin,Grant/Award Number:19JCJQJC61700Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST,Grant/Award Number:2022QNRC001。
文摘As nonlinear thermal devices,thermal regulators can intelligently respond to temperature and control heat flow through changes in heat transfer capacities,which allows them to reduce energy consumption without external intervention.However,current thermal regulators generally based on high-quality crystallinestructure transitions are intrinsically rigid,which may cause structural damage and functional failure under mechanical strain;moreover,they are difficult to integrate into emerging soft electronic platforms.In this study,we develop a flexible,elastic thermal regulator based on the reversible thermally induced deformation of a liquid crystal elastomer/liquid metal(LCE/LM)composite foam.By adjusting the crosslinking densities,the LCE foam exhibits a high actuation strain of 121%with flexibility below the nematic–isotropic phase transition temperature(TNI)and hyperelasticity above TNI.The incorporation of LMresults in a high thermal resistance switching ratio of 3.8 over a wide working temperature window of 60◦C with good cycling stability.This feature originates from the synergistic effect of fragmentation and recombination of the internal LM network and lengthening and shortening of the bond line thickness.Furthermore,we fabricate a“grid window”utilizing photic-thermal integrated thermal control,achieving a superior heat supply of 13.7℃ at a light intensity of 180mW/cm^(2)and a thermal protection of 43.4℃at 1200 mW/cm^(2).The proposed method meets the mechanical softness requirements of thermal regulatormaterials with multimode intelligent temperature control.
