Page 30 - Read Online

Yun et al. Soft Sci 2023;3:12 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2023.04

Review Article Open Access

Recent progress in thermal management for

flexible/wearable devices

#
#
JooHo Yun , Young Jin Yoo , Hyung Rae Kim, Young Min Song *
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005,
Korea.
#
Both authors contributed equally.
* Correspondence to: Prof. Young Min Song, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Gwangju Institute of Science
and Technology (GIST), 123, Cheomdangwagi-ro, Gwangju 61005, Korea. E-mail: ymsong@gist.ac.kr
How to cite this article: Yun J, Yoo YJ, Kim HR, Song YM. Recent progress in thermal management for flexible/wearable devices.
Soft Sci 2023;3:xx. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2023.04
Received: 31 Jan 2022 First Decision: 2 Mar 2023 Revised: 15 March 2023 Accepted: 22 Feb 2023 Published: 18 Apr 2023

Academic Editors: Dae-Hyeong Kim, Yihui Zhang Copy Editor: Ke-Cui Yang Production Editor: Ke-Cui Yang

Abstract
Thermal management for wearable devices is evolving to make ubiquitous applications possible based on
advanced devices featuring miniaturization, integration, and ultrathin designs. Thermal management and control
integrated with wearable devices are highly desirable for various applications for human body monitoring, including
external heat exposure and metabolic heat generation, in various activities. Recently, dynamic change materials
have been integrated with micro/nano thermal management platforms to address the potential for active thermal
management. In this article, recent advances in the architecture of effective thermal management in wearable
devices are reviewed, along with the essential mechanisms for managing thermal conditions for users in
external/internal thermal environments. Appropriate thermal management approaches are proposed for the
design and integration of materials/structures tailored to specific targets in wearable devices. In particular, this
review is devoted to materials/structures based on five thermal management strategies: conduction, radiation,
evaporation/convection, heat absorption/release, and thermoelectric (TE). Finally, the challenges and prospects
for practical applications of thermal management in wearable devices are discussed.

Keywords: Thermal management, wearable devices, thermal conductors, radiative coolers, evaporative textiles,
thermoelectric devices

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

www.softscijournal.com