This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A joint research team led by professors Seunghyun Baik and Joonmyung Choi from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) has developed a new nanocomposite material whose electrical and thermal conductivities increase as it is stretched. The team successfully applied it to stable heat dissipation for foldable phones.
The research is published in Advanced Functional Materials. Smartphones and electronic devices generate significant heat during operation, which can cause performance throttling or shorten device lifespan if not properly cooled. Next-generation flexible electronics that bend or stretch face particular challenges because heat cannot easily escape during deformation.
Typically, stretching a material increases the distance between embedded particles, which reduces both thermal and electrical conduction. However, the research team designed a material that overturns this conventional understanding. The research team uniformly dispersed 3.4-nanometer (nm) silver particles—tens of thousands of times thinner than a human hair—with ultranarrow gaps of just 4.1 nanometers between them within stretchable silicone rubber.
Narrowing the interparticle distance below 10 nanometers allows electrons to move through barriers via a phenomenon known as "quantum tunneling." Consequently, even when the material is stretched, it exhibits "ballistic-like transport between fillers," in which heat flows directly without additional scattering upon stretching, leading to enhanced thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the team demonstrated that by precisely tuning the interparticle spacing and the chemical properties of the rubber, this material can serve as a "thermal switching material" that controls heat flow upon stretching. Choi carried out computational simulations to verify the microscopic mechanism, demonstrating that polymer chains align in the direction of strain, allowing heat to travel much more efficiently.
Baik stated, "This study is of great significance because it discovered a unique physical phenomenon where thermal conductivity increases upon stretching through the precise control of nanoscale energy barriers, and it demonstrated successful application to heat management in flexible electronics such as foldable phones." C. Muhammed Ajmal et al, Ballistic‐Like Thermal Transport Between Fillers in Highly Conductive Stretchable Nanocomposites, Advanced Functional Materials (2026). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.77937 Journal information: Advanced Functional Materials BSc Life Sciences & Ecology.
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