High-Efficiency Boiling Heat Transfer Interfaces Composed of Electroplated Copper Nanocone Cores and Low-Thermal-Conductivity Nickel Nanocone Coverings

We demonstrate that copper-based super-thin high-efficiency boiling heat transfer (BHT) interfaces can be obtained via electroplating hierarchical nickel nanocone coverings on the surface of copper nanocone cores. By regulating surface morphologies, wettability, and mass and heat transfer properties of hierarchical structures, we reveal the regulation rules of their performance. Based on this, we obtain the optimized BHT interfaces with a thickness of only 6.4 μm, which shows 228% enhancement in the maximal heat transfer coefficient, 71% enhancement in the critical heat flux, and 68% decrease in the superheat for the onset of nucleate boiling, as compared to the flat copper surface. Our studies clearly indicate that, although the in situ growth of nickel nanocones can unavoidably increase the interface thermal resistance of hierarchical structures, its optimization can still enhance BHT performance. This may be ascribed to the coupling of several interface effects such as more heat transfer area, more nucleation sites, smaller bubble departure sizes, and stronger liquid supply ability caused by hierarchical structures. Our work opens up a new avenue for the development of copper-based super-thin high-efficiency BHT interfaces, which would help enhance the efficiency of energy utilization and heat dissipation of various thermal devices.