A scalable micro-encapsulated phase change material and liquid metal integrated composite for sustainable data center cooling

In this paper, we utilized a eutectic gallium-indium liquid metal (LM) with high thermal conductivity to immerse carbon-based phase change material (PCM) capsules to acquire a PCM-LM composite. This produced a scalable, thermally stable, mechanically reliable, high thermally conductive, and leakage-free material. This composite was then applied as a heat mitigator for CPU cooling. Results demonstrate that clear improvements could be made compared to traditional pin-fin heat-sink cooling. Here the continuous full-load operating time could be prolonged by 414.3%. Moreover, the temperature difference between the idle and full-load operating states could be significantly decreased, and prevent damage from thermal stress. Significantly, a 23% energy-saving performance was attained because of the thermal buffering effect and high responsive ability of the composite. Guidelines for an effective match between the heat absorption of the composite and the heat generation from the CPU could also be established. Here the proposed PCM-LM composite can be applied to other PCM-based energy storage industries and efficient temperature control applications, contributing to carbon neutralization and global warming mitigation.