Data center cooling is energy-intensive, accounting for about 40% of overall data center energy use (around 8 terawatt-hours per year).
Researchers have developed a new organic thermal interface material (TIM) that can substantially improve heat dissipation from electronic components, reducing the demand on active cooling technologies like fans and liquid cooling.
The new TIM is a colloidal mixture of the liquid metal galinstan and particles of aluminum nitride, creating a gradient interface that helps heat pass through without hard boundaries.
In lab tests, the TIM was able to double the heat transfer rate compared to leading thermal pastes, while also reducing the component temperature and the energy use of the cooling pump by 65%.
This breakthrough material could enable more sustainable cooling solutions for high-power electronics, including data centers, where electricity usage is expected to double by 2028 due to increasing demands from AI models.
The researchers are now working to scale up the material for larger systems and a wider variety of scenarios, in partnership with data center providers.
Source: ScienceAlert
