Passive thermal management of electronic devices using sorption-based evaporative cooling

Thermal management is becoming the main bottleneck of electronic devices, especially in situations where only passive strategies are available, such as base stations and smartphones. In this article, we develop passive, sorption-based evaporative cooling based on a salt-embedded composite sorbent and further apply the method to a state-of-the-art 5G base station. Both the experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the proof of concept on a finned heat sink could achieve an exceptional equivalent cooling power of 602 W/m2, which accounts for about 22% of the total heat dissipation capacity and could bring a maximum of 20°C temperature reduction compared with the original device. An additional experiment on a well-developed practical base station demonstrates that the proposed cooling strategy could still bring about a 5°C–8°C temperature reduction. Sorption-based evaporative cooling could greatly expand the potential of passive cooling capacity and create new opportunities for future electronics.