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Soft materials with elevated thermal conductivity are highly sought after for efficient, adaptable thermal management in contemporary electronics, yet their fabrication remains challenging. We describe a soft composite created by integrating tannic acid-mediated liquid metals and graphene nanosheets into a polyurethane matrix through a noncovalent assembly approach that involves multiple interfacial supramolecular interactions. This composite demonstrates remarkable toughness (90.39 MJ m-3) and stretchability (1050% strain) alongside superior through-plane thermal conductivity (18.69 W m-1 K-1) and in-plane thermal conductivity (8.05 W m-1 K-1). Additionally, the composite features excellent broadband light absorption (>85%) and a photothermal conversion efficiency of 84%, enabling heat generation. Our findings overcome the traditional trade-off between high thermal conductivity and mechanical compliance in a single material. We anticipate that our design strategy will pave the way for advanced thermal management materials that require functional integration.
He et al. (Sun,) studied this question.