Thermal Management, Phase Change Storage and Heat Transfer Composites
This research community develops materials and systems for controlling heat flow, storing thermal energy, and enhancing heat transfer in industrial and electronic applications.
The work centers on three interconnected material systems: hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets and nanotubes for high thermal conductivity; phase change materials (PCMs) and composite PCMs for latent heat storage; and hybrid nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, or metal oxides for heat transfer enhancement. These components are integrated into epoxy composites, polymer matrices, and structural frameworks to create thermal interface materials, heat exchangers, and solar thermal collectors. Methods include molecular dynamics simulation, numerical modeling of nanofluid flow, and experimental characterization of thermal conductivity and tribological properties. Applications span battery thermal management, electronic device cooling, solar energy harvesting, and electromagnetic shielding.
The community represents 16.5% of all boron research and 8.3% of all nitrogen research, with boron contributing 12,809 papers and nitrogen contributing 11,955 papers to this group.
There are 40,048 papers in this community, published primarily in the Journal of Energy Storage, Applied Thermal Engineering, and Tribology International.
Recent work focuses on flexible, self-healing polymer-based phase change composites for battery jackets and thermal interfaces, bio-based high-conductivity composites from biomass, and neural network-based optimization of nanofluid performance in solar collectors.