As there are electrically superconductive materials. Is it possible to generalize the idea into the field of thermal conduction? Although heat pipe techniques can conduct heat efficiently, there is still strong need for thermally superconductive materials for heat management in the field of electronics, electrical battery vehicles, supercomputer, controlled fusion reactors， etc.
We have access to significant heat conductors, particularly metals. However, the issue lies with liquids, whose thermal conductivity is low and not well understood. There is a need for liquids that can conduct heat effectively, particularly in thermal applications. For instance, we employ superfluids to cool equipment with high energy demands at CERN. Unfortunately, using superfluids is exceedingly expensive and impractical for commercial purposes.
Hello Sheng Lu ,
I do not know if one can design a solid material that is a thermal superconductor, but let me mention a material that has a thermal conductivity greater than silver, the element with the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any natural element. According to [1], BeO has a higher thermal conductivity than even silver, but only between 0-200K. Beryllium is itself a very strange metal being one of the lightest metals but hard enough to scratch glass. Beryllium does not form ions so its compounds, such as BeO, have covalent bonds rather than ionic bonds. Warning, working with beryllium compounds is very dangerous when they are in the powdered state, see the disease berylliosis.
[1] Eugene Ryshkewitch, David W. Richerson; Oxide Ceramics; General Ceramics, Inc.; 1985; pp. 556 (thermal conductivity curves) & 334 (berylliosis).
Regards,
Tom Cuff
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