A comprehensive overview and summary of recent achievements and the latest trends in bioinspired thermal materials.
Following an introduction to different thermal materials and their effective heat transfer to other materials, the text discusses heat detection materials that are inspired by biological systems, such as fire beetles and butterflies. There then follow descriptions of materials with thermal management functionality, including those for evaporation and condensation, heat transfer and thermal insulation materials, as modeled on snake skins, polar bears and fire-resistant trees. A discussion of thermoresponsive materials with thermally switchable surfaces and controllable nanochannels as well as those with high thermal conductivity and piezoelectric sensors is rounded off by a look toward future trends in the bioinspired engineering of thermal materials.
Straightforward and well structured, this is an essential reference for newcomers as well as experienced researchers in this exciting field.

Tao Deng is the Zhi Yuan Endowed Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He obtained his PhD degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, USA, in 2001 and completed his postdoc at MIT in Boston, USA, in 2003. He worked at General Electric (GE)'s Global Research Center at Niskayuna, USA, before he moved to Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2012.
Professor Deng has authored more than 50 external publications, 60 GE internal technical reports and holds 40 patents. He is the recipient of the Guo Moruo President award at the University of Science and Technology of China and numerous GE's technical and patent awards. In 2011, he was selected as one of the top 100 young engineers to participate in the US National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.