Properties and performance of hybrid suspensions of MPCM/nanoparticles for LED thermal management

Abstract Mono suspensions of either nanoparticles or microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) capsules (microcapsules) have shown superior thermophysical properties and heat transfer performance for thermal management. In this study, hybrid suspensions of nanoparticles and MPCM particles were prepared to integrate the advantages of both materials. The properties of hybrid MPCM/nanoparticle suspensions were investigated in terms of dispersion stability and thermal conductivity, and the cooling performance of the hybrid suspensions on thermal management of light-emitting diodes (LED) were studied. The experimental results show that the addition of graphene oxide, titanium dioxide (TiO2), and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles effectively improved the dispersion stability of the MPCM suspension (MPCMS). The thermal conductivity of the MPCMS was enhanced by the TiO2 and Al2O3 nanoparticles. The hybrid MPCM/Al2O3 suspensions, which exhibited remarkable improvement in both dispersion stability and thermal conductivity, were applied to an LED thermal management system. The results show that the cooling performance of the hybrid suspensions was enhanced compared with that of the mono suspensions of MPCM or nanoparticles. The optimal concentration of the hybrid suspension was obtained. The effects of inlet temperature of the hybrid suspensions on the cooling performance were studied.