Anisotropic electro-driven phase change materials inspired by biological structure

Electro-driven phase change materials (PCMs) can effectively realize electrothermal conversion and storage and have attracted much attention in the fields of electrothermal therapy and thermal management of electronic devices. How to effectively reduce the leakage current risk of it is a core problem in the application process. In this work, we used carbon fibers and boron nitride to mimic the microstructure of Greta oto butterfly's wing, and composite it with a form-stable PCM-PPEGMA to obtain a thermally conductive enhanced anisotropic electro-driven PCM. The material exhibits high electrothermal conversion and storage efficiency (86.76%, 5 V), high thermal conductivity, excellent electrical anisotropy, and thermal stability because of the well-designed spatial arrangement. The unique bionic structure effectively inhibits the conductive isotropy phenomenon of traditional electro-driven PCMs and significantly reduces the risk of leakage current. On the basis of this situation, the system shows great application potential in the field of electrothermal therapy.