Thermal energy management materials encompass engineered solids, fluids, and composites designed to control heat generation, transport, storage, and dissipation in devices, buildings, and wearables. The area integrates thermoelectric and thermomagnetic converters, elastocaloric and solid-state heat pumps, phase-change and thermochromic systems, and radiative or evaporative cooling structures, often with microfluidic or porous architectures. Emerging work couples these materials with machine learning, additive manufacturing, and bioinspired designs to optimize thermal performance, efficiency, and adaptability across scales from electronics to infrastructure.
Energy & Green Tech
Touch the back of a laptop and it often feels warm. This is because part of the energy used for computation and communication escapes to the outside as heat. Yet even this "waste heat" still contains a great deal of usable ...
Jan 18, 2026
0
71
Engineering
Researchers at the School of Engineering of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed the world's first sub-zero Celsius elastocaloric freezing device, capable of reaching temperatures as low ...
Jan 15, 2026
0
51
Energy & Green Tech
Environmentally friendly buildings are highly attractive for sustainable development and efficient energy consumption. Recently, scientists have made significant strides toward the development of energy-efficient smart windows—with ...
Jan 13, 2026
0
22
Engineering
Researchers have developed a heat storage unit that takes up less space than a regular hot water tank. It charges when electricity is cheap and releases heat when needed.
Jan 9, 2026
2
847
Energy & Green Tech
Under the threat of climate change and geopolitical tensions related to fossil fuels, the world faces an urgent need to find sustainable and renewable energy solutions. While wind, solar, and hydroelectric power are key renewable ...
Jan 9, 2026
0
24
Engineering
Every summer, our cities burn energy to keep us cool. The same happens in winter with the increasing demand for heating.
Jan 8, 2026
0
13
Engineering
Australia is getting hotter. Climate change is driving more frequent and prolonged extreme heat waves and our homes are struggling to keep up. Alarmingly, many Australian houses—especially older ones—weren't designed ...
Jan 6, 2026
0
26
Engineering
It's a simple law of physics: When electricity or fuel powers a machine, the machine gets hotter. Finding new ways to cool machines quickly and controllably can mean the difference between a functioning electrical grid and ...
Jan 6, 2026
0
40
Engineering
Imagine a device that lets you move heat very quickly from one place to another, yet needs no power, no electricity, no pumps and no moving parts. You might think, "Sure, that's what metals like copper or crystals like diamond ...
Jan 6, 2026
0
40
Engineering
A standard reference thermoelectric module (SRTEM) for objectively measuring thermoelectric module performance has been developed in Korea for the first time. A research team led by Dr. Sang Hyun Park at the Korea Institute ...
Dec 23, 2025
0
28
