From November 6th to 7th, 2024, the 5th Thermal Management Materials and Technology Conference 2024 was grandly held at the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center. A group of five people, led by Professor Cai Jinming from the Laboratory of Advanced Low-Dimensional Materials and Devices at Kunming University of Science and Technology, participated in this grand event. As the executive chair of this conference, Professor Cai Jinming delivered an invited report titled "Applications of Graphene and Its Phase Change Composites in Thermal Management" at the special session on carbon-based thermal management materials. The 5th Thermal Management Materials and Technology Conference 2024 (iTherMConf2024) incorporated the industry insights of top research institutions and companies. Its content covered multiple fields such as the scientific frontiers, functional materials, technological applications, and engineering solutions in the thermal management industry. Renowned domestic and international scholars, technical experts, senior executives of leading enterprises, representatives from government parks, scientific research institutes, and investment institutions were invited to take the stage at the conference to jointly discuss the new developments, new technologies, new scenarios, and new trends in the thermal management industry. The conference was presented in the form of more than 20 multi-dimensional concurrent activities, including opening ceremonies, special reports, roundtable discussions, demand matching, roadshows and promotions, expert consultations, concurrent exhibitions, and new product releases, etc. It established a professional communication platform for information exchange, technical communication, and interdisciplinary integration in the field of thermal management. At the same time, the 2nd Thermal Management Materials Technology Expo 2024 was also held, with an exhibition area of 20,000 square meters and more than 300 participating enterprises.  

Invited Report by Professor Cai Jinming

With the advent of the 5G era, the integration degree of electronic devices is getting higher and higher, their performance is becoming stronger and stronger, and the heat generation has also increased sharply. Graphene has a high intrinsic thermal conductivity (5300 W/m·K) and can be used as a high thermal conductivity filler. Additionally, by utilizing its uniquely designed three-dimensional pore structure to fill phase change materials, it can be applied in thermal management applications such as heat dissipation, temperature equalization of electronic devices, and phase change heat storage. The Preparation and Application Group of Advanced Functional Materials at the Laboratory of Advanced Low-Dimensional Materials and Devices, Kunming University of Science and Technology, is committed to developing graphene composite multifunctional materials, including thermally conductive anisotropic materials, thermally conductive shielding materials, heat storage and thermally conductive phase change materials, etc.; and developing graphene-based nanofluids, including functionally modified graphene nanofluids, mixed multi-component graphene nanofluids, etc., as heat conduction and heat transfer media. Eventually, according to the actual application scenarios of electronic devices and by combining various graphene materials, comprehensive thermal management solutions will be provided. Here are the recent achievements of the team in the field of graphene thermal management:

[1] Zhengyang Yan, Xiaohui Zhang, Yu Gao,  Zisong Kong, Xiaolong Ma, Quan Gou,  Huiming Liang, Xiaoming Cai*, Honglin Tan, Jinming Cai*, Anisotropy induced in magnetic field in GNPs/epoxy composites used as an effective heat dissipation electronic packaging material, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2023;e54541. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.54541

[2] Wentian Huang, Zhicheng Wang, Hangjing Zhou, Zhiqiang Yu, Zhenliang Hao, Yu Gao, Xiaoming Cai, Jinming Cai*. Highly thermal conductive Graphene/Paraffin composite for efficient thermal management of electronics. Applied Thermal Engineering, 246(2024) 122958.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2024.122958

[3] Zhengyang Yan, Xiaoming Cai,* Huiming Liang, Junwen Tang, Quan Gou, Weiyao Wang, Yu Gao,Ming Qin, Honglin Tan, and Jinming Cai*. Thermally Conductive Epoxy Resin Composites Based on 3D Graphene Nanosheet Networks for Electronic Package Heat Dissipation. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.4c01139

[4] Weiyao Wang, Xiaoming Cai*, Wen Gao, Quan Gou, Weiqi Xiao, Zhengyang Yan, Yu Gao, Xiaodi Jiang, Xu Wang, Honglin Tan, Jinming Cai. Heat exchange capacity and physical properties of graphene oxide/carboxylated ferric tetroxide nanofluids. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-13407-x

Group photo of the participants from ALMD (Laboratory of Advanced Low-Dimensional Materials and Devices) The first person on the left is Zhao Yuzhou (Master student of the class of 2023), the second person on the left is Hao Zhenliang, a supervisor for master students. In the middle is Professor Cai Jinming. The second person on the right is Huang Wentian (PhD student of the class of 2022), and the first person on the right is Jin Jiafei (Master student of the class of 2023).