Progress and Prospective of Thermal Interface Materials for Thermal Management

ABSTRACT Thermal management plays a crucial role in the safe operation of high‐power‐density electronics. High‐performance thermal interface materials (TIMs) are becoming an urgent demand to assure effective energy transfer from heat sources to heat sinks. Herein, this perspective focuses on providing an insight into the progress and prospective of TIMs for thermal management. The importance of thermal conductivity and material conformability balance in minimizing the interfacial thermal resistance is first pointed out. The recent progress in graphene‐based and hexagonal boron nitride ( h ‐BN)‐based functionalized TIMs is then discussed, analyzing their limitations and offering potential solutions for efficient heat dissipation in electronics. Finally, the phase‐change material (PCM) based TIMs (PCMTIMs) with specific thermal design is underscored to make full use of emphasizing their dual capacity in heat storage and temperature control for thermal management. Further, future technical directions to develop versatile PCMTIMs with ordered cross‐scale thermal transport are proposed for high‐power/energy‐density thermal management of electronics and sustainable thermal energy systems.