The boosting of consumer electronics and 5G technology cause the continuous increment of the power density of electronic devices and lead to inevitable overheating problems, which reduces the operation efficiency and shortens the service life of electronic devices. Therefore, it is the primary task and a prerequisite to explore innovative material for meeting the requirement of high heat dissipation performance. In comparison with traditional thermal management material (e.g., ceramics and metals), the polymer-based thermal management material exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical insulation, chemical resistance and processing properties, and therefore is considered to be the most promising candidate to solve the heat dissipation problem. In this review, we summarized the recent advances of two typical polymer-based thermal management material including thermal-conduction thermal management material and thermal-storage thermal management material. Furtherly, the structural design, processing strategies and typical applications for two polymer-based thermal management materials were discussed. Finally, we proposed the challenges and prospects of the polymer-based thermal management material. This work presents new perspectives to develop advanced processing approaches and construction high-performance polymer-based thermal management material.
Keywords: phase-change material; thermal conductivity; thermal management material; thermally conductive polymer composites.