Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new cooling material that could revolutionize how we manage heat in electronic devices.
This breakthrough could lead to significant energy savings in data centers, which are massive facilities that house powerful computers and storage systems.
The new material, created by combining liquid metal with aluminum nitride, is called a “thermal interface material.”
It efficiently moves heat away from electronic devices, reducing the need for intensive cooling systems. According to the researchers, this material is far better at conducting heat than the current cooling materials available, making it a great option for keeping high-powered devices cool.
Data centers are essential to support growing technology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, but they consume huge amounts of energy.
Cooling these facilities alone accounts for around 40% of their total energy use. This energy demand is only expected to rise as technology continues to grow.
In fact, a recent estimate suggests that AI-related data center power consumption could increase by 200 terawatt-hours annually by 2030.
Professor Guihua Yu, one of the lead researchers, highlighted the urgent need for more efficient cooling methods. “The power consumption of cooling infrastructure is skyrocketing, and it’s not slowing down. Our new material can help cool high-power devices sustainably,” he said.
In tests, this new cooling material demonstrated the ability to remove an impressive 2,760 watts of heat from a small area of just 16 square centimeters.
It also showed the potential to reduce the energy needed for cooling pumps by up to 65%, which is a significant improvement. This reduction could lead to an overall energy savings of about 5% for data centers.
Lead author Kai Wu added, “Our breakthrough closes the gap between theoretical cooling performance and real-world results. This will pave the way for more eco-friendly and efficient cooling systems for data centers and other energy-demanding applications like aerospace.”
The team developed the new cooling material using a method called mechanochemistry. This process mixes the liquid metal and aluminum nitride in a controlled way to create gradient interfaces, allowing heat to flow through the material more efficiently.
While the material has been successfully tested on small lab devices, the researchers are now working to scale up production and prepare samples for testing in real data centers. If successful, this new cooling method could help lower energy costs and reduce the environmental impact of data centers globally.
The research, published in Nature Nanotechnology, involved a team of scientists from UT Austin and several partner universities in China.
The scientists believe their work could lead to significant improvements in cooling efficiency, supporting the growth of more powerful and sustainable electronic systems.
