Bottom-up design of micro-/nano hierarchical surface for the enhancement of boiling heat transfer performance: A review

Boiling heat transfer technologies have been extensively exploited in the thermal management of advanced electronic systems, including semiconductor chips, laser weapons, and sophisticated satellite, etc. The boiling heat transfer performance was significantly enhanced by the modification of micro-/nanostructures on substrates, which has drawn considerable interest. This review provides a comprehensive understanding on recent progress of micro-/nanostructured boiling heat transfer surfaces, which were developed by the bottom-up methods such as self-assembly, boiling thermal deposition, and chemical vapor deposition, etc. Additionally, the technical guidelines of these bottom-up methods, along with the characteristics of the prepared structures and their boiling heat transfer performance are summarized. The key factors including surface topography, surface wettability, wickability, and surface thermal conductivity, were systematically elucidated for boiling heat transfer enhancement. In addition, a comparative analysis of the mixed wettability on the critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) were conducted. Most importantly, the synergistic effect of increased nucleation site density and enhanced capillary pumping was discussed by means of experimental proofs and theoretical models. The insights into the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for pool boiling heat transfer were also provided. This review offers a new guideline to prepare hierarchical surfaces for enhancing boiling heat transfer by bottom-up methods.