Research progress in evaporative cooling focuses on material innovation, system energy efficiency improvement, and multi-technology coupling applications, with breakthroughs achieved particularly in data center heat dissipation, dynamic liquid supply technology, and composite systems.
In recent years, evaporative cooling technology has evolved from traditional wet curtain evaporation towards high efficiency, intelligence, and integration. Several cutting-edge studies have significantly improved its heat dissipation efficiency and applicable scenarios.
Novel Materials Drive High-Efficiency Heat Dissipation
Three-Dimensional Porous Fiber Membrane Technology: In 2025, the research team developed an evaporative cooling technology based on 3D porous fiber membranes. Its surface-interconnected microporous network can autonomously adsorb coolant through capillary action, achieving a heat dissipation record of 800 watts per square centimeter in testing, suitable for high-power electronic devices.
Ion Gel (RIG) Applications: Ion gels prepared by Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, possessing both strong hygroscopicity and adhesiveness, are used for evaporative cooling in thermoelectric generators, maintaining a stable cooling interface and improving power output.
Positively biased surface design: Research from Hefei University of Technology has found that controlling the surface morphology of the substrate can suppress droplet splashing and significantly improve evaporative cooling efficiency.
Dynamic Liquid Supply and Intelligent Control Technology: Dai Xianming's team proposed the concept of "real-time dynamic liquid supply," which matches the surface vaporization rate with on-demand liquid supply. At a superheat of 10K, the heat transfer coefficient reaches 12 times that of pool boiling, with an energy efficiency ratio as high as 24×10⁴, providing a new path for heat dissipation of high-density chips.
The intelligent IoT group control system has been applied to evaporative cooling equipment, enabling remote monitoring, group control management, and energy consumption optimization, thus improving operational efficiency.