6G Communications Thermal Materials for Infrastructure and Client Devices: Opportunities, Markets, Technology 2027-2047

Table of Contents

1. Executive summary and conclusions

• 1.1 Purpose of this report and assumptions
• 1.2 Methodology of this analysis
• 1.3 SWOT appraisal of 6G Communications thermal material opportunities
• 1.4 Some reasons for the escalating need for cooling
• 1.5 Cooling toolkit, trend to multifunctionality with best solid-state cooling tools shown red
• 1.6 Primary conclusions: 6G thermal requirements
• 1.7 Primary conclusions: solid-state cooling and why it is now a priority for 6G and generally
• 1.8 Primary conclusions: Materials for making cold in 6G infrastructure and client devices
  • 1.8.1 General situation
  • 1.8.2 Leading candidate materials and structures compared
  • 1.8.3 Leading materials in number of latest research advances on solid state cooling
  • 1.8.4 Research pipeline of solid-state cooling by topic vs technology readiness level
  • 1.8.5 Typical best reported temperature drop achieved by technology 2000-2046 extrapolated
  • 1.8.6 14 solid-state cooling technology SWOT appraisals and supporting materials analyses
• 1.9 Primary conclusions: Materials for removing heat by conduction and convection
• 1.10 Roadmap of 6G materials and hardware 2027-2047
• 1.11 Solid state cooling roadmap by market and by technology 2027-2047
• 1.12 Market forecasts as tables, graphs, explanation in 31 lines 2027-2047
  • 1.12.1 Cooling module global market by seven technologies $ billion 2026-2047, % by industry
  • 1.12.2 Terrestrial radiative cooling performance in commercial products W/sq. m 2025-2047
  • 1.12.3 Air conditioner value market $ billion 2024-2047
  • 1.12.4 Global market for HVAC, refrigerators, freezers, other cooling $ billion 2025-2047
  • 1.12.5 Refrigerator and freezer value market $ billion 2024-2047
  • 1.12.6 Stationary battery market $ billion and cooling needs 2024-2047
  • 1.12.7 Thermal management material and structure for 6G Communications infrastructure and client devices $ billion if 6G is successful 2026-2047
  • 1.12.8 Dielectric and thermal materials for 6G value market % by location 2029-2047
  • 1.12.9 5G vs 6G thermal interface material market $ billion 2025-2047
  • 1.12.10 Market for 6G vs 5G base stations units millions yearly 2025-2047
  • 1.12.11 Market for 6G base stations market value $bn if successful 2029-2047
  • 1.12.12 Smartphone billion units sold globally 2024-2047 if 6G is successful
  • 1.12.13 Thermal meta-device market $ billion 2025-2047 by 3 application segments

2. Introduction

• 2.1 Overview
  • 2.1.1 Why 6G brings a much bigger opportunity for thermal management and it is mainly cooling
  • 2.1.2 6G cooling challenge in context of evolution of other cooling increasingly becoming laminar and solid state
  • 2.1.3 Need for cooling in general becomes much larger and often different in nature: the 6G smartphone example
  • 2.1.4 Some of the reasons for much greater need for thermal materials in 6G
  • 2.1.5 How cooling technology will trend to smart materials 2025-2046
• 2.2 Location of the primary 6G thermal management opportunities
  • 2.2.1 Situation with primary 6G infrastructure and client devices
  • 2.2.2 Example RIS for massive MIMO base station: Tsinghua University, Emerson
• 2.3 Cooling, heat barrier and advanced thermally supportive technologies for 6G covered in this report
• 2.4 Examples
  • 2.4.1 Severe new microchip cooling requirements arriving
  • 2.4.2 Cooling 6G electronic components and smartphones
  • 2.4.3 Cooling 6G base stations including their energy harvesting and storage
  • 2.4.4 Cooling solar panels and photovoltaic cladding for 6G infrastructure
  • 2.4.5 Large battery thermal management for 6G infrastructure
  • 2.4.6 Examples of advances in 2024-5
• 2.5 Twelve solid-state cooling operating principles compared by 10 capabilities
• 2.6 Attention vs maturity of cooling and thermal control technologies 3 curves 2026, 2036,
• 2.7 Comparison of traditional and emerging refrigeration technologies
• 2.8 Undesirable materials widely used and proposed: this is an opportunity for you

3. Passive Radiative Cooling (PRC) (Passive Daylight Radiative Cooling PDRC)

• 3.1 Overview with SWOT appraisal, 2027 maturity curve
• 3.2 PRC basics: Definition, origin, purpose, six aspects compared
• 3.3 Materials analysis 2025, 2026 including paint and multi-mode, multifunctional PRC advances
  • 3.3.1 Overall materials analysis with commercial implications
  • 3.3.2 PRC paint and color without compromise
  • 3.3.3 Aerogel and porous material approaches
  • 3.3.4 Environmental and inexpensive PRC materials development
  • 3.3.5 Advanced thermal insulation for PRC: polymer, ceramic, 3DP
• 3.4 Emerging PRC applications: datacenters, buildings, water harvesting, solar panels, apparel, flexible electronics, other
  • 3.4.1 Overall opportunity and progress including proposals for datacenters
  • 3.4.2 PRC for buildings, solar panels and windows: progress in 2025-6
  • 3.4.3 Textile, fabric, wearable PRC: commercial implications of 2025-6 advances and SWOT
  • 3.4.4 PRC cold side boosting power of thermoelectric generators in 2026 and earlier
  • 3.4.5 Cooling of photovoltaics: solid-state options in context 2026 and earlier
  • 3.4.6 Other 2025-6 research related to PRC
• 3.5 Profiles of 12 manufacturers of PRC

4. PRC variants: Janus and Anti-Stokes cooling, adaptive and tunable options

• 4.1 Overview
• 4.2 Two-sided Janus option with SWOT and 2025, 2026 advances appraised
  • 4.2.1 General
  • 4.2.2 SWOT appraisal of Janus effect for thermal management
  • 4.2.3 2025 and 2026 advances appraised
• 4.3 Anti Stokes fluorescence cooling with latest advances appraised and SWOT appraisal
  • 4.3.1 General
  • 4.3.2 SWOT appraisal of Anti-Stokes fluorescence cooling
  • 4.3.3 2025 and 2026 advances appraised
• 4.4 Bioinspired, adaptive and tunable PRC advances 2025-6
  • 4.4.1 Biomimetic approaches that emerged in
  • 4.4.2 Adaptive and tunable radiative cooling and passive thermoregulation

5. Caloric cooling

• 5.1 Structural and ferroic phase change cooling modes and materials
• 5.2 Solid-state phase-change cooling potentially competing with other forms in named applications
• 5.3 The physical principles adjoining caloric cooling
• 5.4 Operating principles for and relative benefits for caloric cooling
• 5.5 Analysis of research and commercialisation of caloric cooling (4 pie charts)
• 5.6 SWOT appraisals and materials analysis pie charts for four main options of caloric cooling
  • 5.6.1 SWOT appraisal of electrocaloric cooling and materials analysis
  • 5.6.2 SWOT appraisal of magnetocaloric cooling and materials analysis
  • 5.6.3 SWOT appraisal of elastocaloric cooling and materials analysis
  • 5.6.4 SWOT appraisal of barocaloric cooling and materials analysis
• 5.7 COP comparison of the four caloric leading technologies vs vapor compression
• 5.8 Seven emerging manufacturers of caloric cooling
• 5.9 Further reading

6. Enabling technology: Metamaterial and other advanced photonic cooling: emerging materials and devices

• 6.1 Metamaterials
  • 6.1.1 Metamaterial and metasurface basics and thermal metamaterial advances in
  • 6.1.2 The meta-atom, patterning and functional options
  • 6.1.3 SWOT assessment for metamaterials and metasurfaces generally
  • 6.1.4 Metamaterial energy harvesting may power 6G active cooling
  • 6.1.5 Thermal metamaterial with 14 advances in 2025 and
• 6.2 Advanced photonic cooling and prevention of heating

7. Future thermoelectric cooling and thermoelectric harvesting as a user of and power provider for other solid-state cooling

• 7.1 Basics
  • 7.1.1 Operation, examples, SWOT appraisal
  • 7.1.2 Thermoelectric cooling and temperature control applications 2027 and
  • 7.1.3 SWOT appraisal of thermoelectric cooling, temperature control and harvesting
• 7.2 Thermoelectric materials
  • 7.2.1 Requirements
  • 7.2.2 Useful and misleading metrics
  • 7.2.3 Quest for better zT performance which is often the wrong approach
  • 7.2.4 Some alternatives to bismuth telluride being considered
  • 7.2.5 Non-toxic and less toxic thermoelectric materials, some lower cost
  • 7.2.6 Ferron and spin driven thermoelectrics
• 7.3 Wide area and flexible thermoelectric cooling is a gap in the market for you to address
  • 7.3.1 The need and general approaches
  • 7.3.2 Advances in flexible and wide area thermoelectric cooling in 2025 and earlier
  • 7.3.3 Wide area or flexible TEG research 40 examples that may lead to similar TEC
• 7.4 Radiation cooling of buildings: multifunctional with thermoelectric harvesting
• 7.5 The heat removal problem of TEC and TEG – evolving solutions
• 7.6 20 advances in thermoelectric cooling and harvesting involving cooling and a review
• 7.7 Earlier advances
• 7.8 82 Manufactures of Peltier thermoelectric modules and products

8. Future evaporative, melting and flow cooling including heat pipes, thermal hydrogels for 6G smartphones, other 6G client devices, 6G infrastructure

• 8.1 Overview: 6G smartphone vapor cooling and hydrogel cooling for 6G
• 8.2 Background to phase change cooling
• 8.3 Heat pipes and vapor chambers
  • 8.3.1 Definitions and relevance to 6G infrastructure and client devices
  • 8.3.2 Focus of vapor chamber research relevant to 6G success
  • 8.3.3 Research on relevant heat pipes, vapor chambers and allied: 39 advances
  • 8.3.4 Thermal storage heat pipes: nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM) for device thermal management
• 8.4 Hydrogels for 6G Communications
  • 8.4.1 Thermal hydrogels: context, ambitions and limitations
  • 8.4.2 Hydrogels cooling suitable for 6G microelectronics and solar panels: Five advances
  • 8.4.3 Thermogalvanic hydrogel for synchronous evaporative cooling
  • 8.4.4 Hydrogels in architectural cooling that can involve 6G functions: advances
  • 8.4.5 Aerogel and hydrogel together for cooling
  • 8.4.6 Other emerging cooling hydrogels for 6G microchips, power electronics, data centers, large batteries, cell towers and buildings

9. Thermal Interface Materials TIM and emerging materials for 6G conductive cooling challenges

• 9.1 Overview: current practice to thermal graphene, tridymite, OPCPM and more for 6G
  • 9.1.1 TIM, heat spreaders from micro to heavy industrial: activity of 17 companies
  • 9.1.2 17 examples of research advances in 2025 and 2024 relevant to 6G transistors up to buildings
  • 9.1.3 Annealed pyrolytic graphite: progress in 2025 and 2024 as microelectronic TIM
  • 9.1.4 Oriented composite phase change material (OCPCM)
  • 9.1.5 Thermally conductive concrete and allied work
• 9.2 Important considerations when solving thermal challenges with conductive materials
  • 9.2.1 Bonding or non-bonding
  • 9.2.2 Varying heat
  • 9.2.3 Electrically conductive or not
  • 9.2.4 Placement
  • 9.2.5 Environmental attack
  • 9.2.6 Choosing a thermal structure
  • 9.2.7 Research on embedded cooling
• 9.3 Thermal Interface Material TIM
  • 9.3.1 General
  • 9.3.2 Seven current options compared against nine parameters
  • 9.3.3 Nine important research advances in 2025 and 2024 relevant to 6G
  • 9.3.4 Thermal pastes compared
  • 9.3.5 TIM and other examples today: Henkel, Momentive, ShinEtsu, Sekisui, Fujitsu, Suzhou Dasen
  • 9.3.6 37 examples of TIM manufacturers
  • 9.3.7 Thermal interface material trends as needs change: graphene, liquid metals etc.
• 9.4 Polymer choices: silicones or carbon-based
  • 9.4.1 Comparison
  • 9.4.2 Silicone parameters, ShinEtsu, patents
  • 9.4.3 SWOT appraisal for silicone thermal conduction materials
• 9.5 Thermally conductive polymer advances in 2025 and earlier
  • 9.5.1 Overview
  • 9.5.2 Examples of companies making thermally conductive additives
  • 9.5.3 Thermally conductive polymers: pie charts of host materials and particulates prioritised in research
  • 9.5.4 Important progress in 2025 and earlier

  10. Advanced heat shielding, thermal insulation and ionogels for 6G

  • 10.1 Overview
  • 10.2 Inorganic, organic and composite thermal insulation for 6G
  • 10.3 Heat shield film and multipurpose thermally insulating windows
  • 10.4 Thermal insulation for heat spreaders and other passive cooling
    • 10.4.1 W.L.Gore enhancing graphite heat spreader performance
    • 10.4.2 Protecting smartphones from heat
    • 10.4.3 20 companies involved in silica aerogel thermal insulation of devices
  • 10.5 Ionogels for 6G applications including electrically conductive thermal insulation
    • 10.5.1 Basics for 6G
    • 10.5.2 Eight ionogel advances in 2025 and 2024

  11. Thermal metamaterials – the big picture

  • 11.1 Purpose of this chapter
    • 11.1.1 General
    • 11.1.2 Types of metamaterial thermal management materials by function
    • 11.1.3 Applications analysed from sensors to surgical robots and spacecraft
    • 11.1.4 Three families of metamaterials overlap
  • 1.2 Thermal metamaterials
    • 11.2.1 Some of the drivers of commercialisation of thermal metamaterials
    • 11.2.2 Cooling toolkit, 7 metamaterial-enabled options in blue text, trend to multifunctionality
    • 11.2.3 Examples of thermal metamaterials in 2025 advances
  • 11.3 Primary conclusions; market positioning
  • 11.4 Primary conclusions: leading formulations, functionality and manufacturing technologies
  • 11.5 Popularity by formulation in 132 examples of latest thermal metamaterial research
  • 11.6 Static to dynamic heat transfer using metamaterials
  • 11.7 Static radiative cooling materials showing metamaterials as one of many options
  • 11.8 Thermal metamaterial and cooling roadmap by market and by technology 2025-2045
  • 11.9 Thermal meta-device market $ billion 2025-2045 by application segment
  • 11.10 Electromagnetic meta-device market $ billion 2025-2045
  • 11.11 Electromagnetic meta-device market $ billion 2025-2045 by application segment
  • 11.12 Meta-device market electromagnetic vs thermal 2025-2045