A composite coating based on metal–organic framework MIL-101(Cr) synthesised by L-malic acid as mineralising agent for thermal management

The thermal management of electronic devices has attracted significant research attention in the recent year. However, the commonly used thermal management materials at this stage are mainly phase change materials (PCMs), which are limited by their relatively low enthalpy. In this study, the metal–organic framework MIL-101(Cr) was synthesised by an environmentally friendly and low-cost L-malic acid as the mineralising agent. The as-prepared MIL-101(Cr) composite coating was utilised as a sorbent for a passive thermal management strategy, through a vapour sorption–desorption process. By coating the as-prepared MIL-101(Cr) powder onto a metal substrate, a temperature drop for 25 min (maximum 8.6 °C) was achieved for 0.256 g of coating at a heating power of 2.5 W. The use of latent heat has emerged as an attractive method for intermittent heat dissipation. The equivalent enthalpy of the composite coating could reach as high as 1171.9 J/g coating , indicating a significant improvement in the thermal management performance compared with the conventional PCMs. Graphical abstract Summary: A composite coating for thermal management was obtained by silicate solution and powder MIL-101(Cr).