Researchers in South Korea have developed a new lightweight, low-cost material that can dissipate heat much more efficiently than many existing cooling materials.
The breakthrough, inspired by the way egg whites expand when heated, could help prevent overheating in everything from smartphones and high-performance servers to electric vehicle batteries.
The work was carried out by a team at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) and published in Advanced Science.
As electronic devices become faster and more compact, they generate increasing amounts of heat.
Managing this heat is critical, especially in technologies like electric vehicles, where overheated batteries can lose performance or even catch fire.
At the center of these cooling systems is the Thermal Interface Material (TIM), which transfers heat away from sensitive components.
Traditional TIMs are made by mixing heat-conducting particles into a polymer.
But because the particles scatter randomly, the pathways that carry heat are often broken, limiting performance. Adding more particles might improve conductivity, but it also increases cost and makes the materials harder to manufacture.
To solve this, the KIMS team used a creative approach: a protein foaming method based on heating egg-white proteins.
When egg whites heat up, their proteins expand and create a stable three-dimensional network.
The researchers applied the same principle to magnesium oxide (MgO), a lightweight, inexpensive material. By heating a mixture containing MgO and proteins, they created a strong, interconnected 3D structure in which particles are tightly and uniformly linked together.
This structure allows heat to flow through the material without interruption, forming continuous thermal pathways. Thanks to this design, the new composite reached a thermal conductivity of 17.19 W/m·K—up to 2.6 times higher than conventional heat-dissipating materials. Despite using MgO instead of more expensive or heavier materials like aluminum oxide or nitrides, the team achieved better performance while keeping costs low.
To make the material ready for real-world use, the researchers combined it with epoxy resin, which improves adhesion and durability in electronic devices. This step confirmed that the composite can be manufactured at scale and integrated into existing cooling systems.
The potential applications are wide-ranging. Devices that generate large amounts of heat—such as semiconductor packages, 5G communication equipment, EV batteries, and high-power servers—could all benefit from faster, more efficient cooling. For South Korea, where the thermal interface materials market exceeds 200 billion won annually but relies heavily on imports, this innovation could also strengthen domestic manufacturing.
Dr. Hyun-Ae Cha, who led the project, emphasized that the process is both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. She noted that the research demonstrates a new pathway for creating light, high-performance materials capable of managing heat more efficiently than many existing solutions.
This egg-white–inspired material may soon help keep the next generation of electronics cooler, safer, and more reliable.
Source: KSR.
