HKUST-1 assisted liquid metal in constructing polydimethylsiloxane-based composites for improving thermal conductivity

The development of multifunctional and high-performance polymer-based thermal interface materials is extremely challenging due to the interfacial thermal resistance arising from phonon scattering. Herein, a simple and effective strategy is proposed to construct polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based composites (PHPL) with enhanced thermal conductivity using HKUST-1 as a three-dimensional skeleton. The results indicate that PHPL exhibits outstanding thermal performance, with a thermal conductivity of 1.47 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, which is 764.7 % higher than that of PDMS, and the maximum temperature change achieved was 20.4 °C. More importantly, the deicing efficiency of the PHPL composites was significantly increased by 107.1 %, while Young's modulus rose to 1.70 MPa. In addition, finite element simulation results revealed that the improvement in thermal conductivity can be attributed to the formation of a continuous thermal conductivity network within the polymer and the establishment of a high thermal conductivity pathway, thereby significantly reducing interfacial thermal resistance and facilitating effective heat transfer. This work not only provides new insights into the application of metal–organic frameworks, but also serves as a reference for the design and synthesis of efficient thermal interface composites.