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Environmentally friendly thermal interface materials (TIMs) with bidirectional high thermal conductivities have aroused considerable interests for addressing the heat dissipation issue in integrated circuits. Although graphene-based TIMs exhibit excellent in-plane thermal conductive performance, their through-plane thermal conductivity is commonly less than 3 Wm−1K−1 owing to the vast interfacial phonon scattering, significantly limiting their practical applications. In this study, a strategy aimed at building TIMs with controllable heat transfer pathways both along the in-plane and through-plane directions is proposed by incorporating micron-diamonds (MDs) in graphene nanoplatelets/nanofibrillated cellulose (GNPs/NFC) composite film via a facile and green self-assembly method. The morphology of the obtained MDs@GNPs/NFC composite film can be precisely tailored from a hierarchical structure to a 3D solid foam-like structure to tailor heat transfer paths. By adjusting the loading and particle size of MDs, a through-plane thermal conductivity of 8.85 Wm−1K−1 was achieved accompanied with a simultaneously high in-plane thermal conductivity of 32.01 Wm−1K−1. The excellent bidirectional thermal conductive performance is integrated with high-efficiency Joule heating capability, outstanding nonflammability, as well as superior electromagnetic shielding performance, showing a promising future in advanced electronic devices. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar steam generation (SSG) has been considered as a promising method to produce fresh water from seawater. Due to high light absorption and excellent chemical stability, carbon nanotube (CNT) has been widely used for SSG. However, it is still challenge to simultaneously realize high water evaporation rate and energy efficiency for CNT based solar steam generator. Herein, ultralight anisotropic Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene/carbon nanotube (A-Ti 3 C 2 T x /CNT) aerogels are designed and fabricated for highly efficient SSG. The combination of CNT and Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene endows the hybrid aerogel with high light absorption and effective localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), resuting in enhanced light-to-heat conversion efficiency. The porous structure of aerogel leads to multiple scattering and absorption, further contributing to the photothermal conversion process. Moreover, the low thermal conductivity of aerogel structure effectively reduces the heat loss to environment. Through tailoring the anisotropic channel, the A-Ti 3 C 2 T x /CNT hybrid aerogel with average channel size of 80 μm possesses most efficient water transport due to the capillary effect and formation of intermediate water. Therefore, the A-Ti 3 C 2 T x /CNT hybrid aerogel exhibits high average light absorption of 95.68% in the wavelength range of 200–2500 nm, excellent water evaporation rate of 2.10 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun irradiation (1 kW m−2) with a high energy efficiency of 93.4%, and remarkable durability with 7 days continuous water evaporation. The A-Ti 3 C 2 T x /CNT hybrid aerogel also shows high resistance to salt crystallization due to its high salt transport flux of 1.90 kg m−2 h−1. This work offers a prospective strategy for constructing highly efficient solar steam generator with stable performance for practical application in seawater desalination. A Short Summary: Through combining carbon nanotube (CNT) with high light absorption and Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene with excellent light-to-heat conversion efficiency, ultralight anisotropic Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene/carbon nanotube hybrid aerogels are fabricated for highly efficient solar steam generation. The obtained aerogel with suitable pore structure exhibits a high light absorption ability of up to 95.68% in the wavelength range of 200–2500 nm, an excellent water evaporation rate of up to ∼2.10 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun irradiation (1 kW m−2)) with a high energy efficiency of 93.4%, and a remarkable durability of up to 7 days. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]