Self-assembled liquid metal nanoporous film with durability for efficient phase-change thermal energy management via surface and interface engineering.

[Display omitted] Films with nanoengineered surfaces have found extensive utilization in versatile applications, such as freshwater harvesting, water purification, steam generation and thermal energy management. Herein, we develop a liquid metal (LM) nanoporous film on a copper substrate via a simple and scalable bubble-induced self-assembly method. The LM nanoporous film not only provides abundant nucleation sites of bubbles due to nanoscale pores, but also generates CuGa 2 intermetallic compound (IMC) as a thermal interface layer with low interfacial resistance due to in situ alloying with the copper substrate. When the film is used in ethanol-based boiling system, it shows a 172% enhanced heat transfer coefficient compared to the pristine copper. In addition, the metallic wetting force between the LM nanoporous film and CuGa 2 IMC results in a durable nanoporous film. When the LM nanoporous film is utilized for the phase-change thermal energy management of a high-power-density light emitting diode, it leads to a distinct decrease in temperature by 20.7 ℃ relative to the pristine copper. This work provides a strategy to combine nanoengineered surfaces with interface engineering to enhance phase-change heat transfer, which can result in efficient energy transport in various energy-related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]