As chip computing power and fast-charging capabilities continue to advance in the consumer electronics sector, device bodies are becoming increasingly thinner and lighter. As a result, thermal insulation gaps around the motherboard and battery have been compressed to less than 0.5mm. Traditional solutions such as foam, PI film, and fiberglass insulation are no longer sufficient to meet these demands.
The limitations of conventional materials are evident:
• In terms of thickness, standard thermal insulation foam remains over 1mm even after hot pressing, making it impossible to fit into millimeter-level gaps; forced compression can collapse pores and degrade thermal performance.
• Regarding performance, typical foam has a higher thermal conductivity than still air, allowing heat to penetrate easily within enclosed device spaces and causing localized overheating.
• In mass production, these materials tend to shed fibers, are brittle, suffer from low die-cutting and assembly yields, and their powders may contaminate precision components—making them unacceptable under electronic manufacturers’ quality control standards.
To address this gap, three main types of ultra-thin thermal insulation materials dominate the industry today:
• Ultra-thin vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) offer the best thermal performance, but achieving a production thickness below 1mm is difficult. They also fail upon damage and are costly, so they are used only in limited areas of high-end devices.
• Standard PI films are inexpensive and highly flexible, but their thermal insulation capability is limited, meeting only basic requirements for entry-level devices.
• Aerogel thermal insulation films currently represent the most balanced solution overall, accounting for over 80% of ultra-thin insulation applications in mid-to-high-end models.
While many know aerogels excel in thermal insulation, raw aerogels are inherently brittle and prone to powdering, making them unsuitable for direct use in consumer electronics.
Commercially available products are typically three-layer composite modified films: a core layer of silica aerogel that traps air within nanoscale pores to achieve insulation, a middle fiber substrate that enhances toughness and facilitates processing, and an outer protective film that seals the powder to prevent shedding.
The key advantages of this finished product are clear: minimum thickness down to 0.08mm, suitable for various narrow cavities; thermal conductivity at room temperature below 0.02W/(m·K), ensuring stable insulation performance; supports irregular die-cutting, compatible with automated production lines, and offers V0-level flame retardancy and electrical insulation.
However, its performance has clear boundaries. According to tests conducted by CETC Laboratory following GB/T10294-2008 standards, after more than 1,000 repeated bends with a bend radius smaller than R1.5mm, thermal performance degrades by 8–10%. Additionally, when exposed to long-term operating temperatures above 120°C, the base material gradually ages. Therefore, it is primarily applied in relatively mild-temperature zones such as outside shielding covers and around batteries.
In practical applications, aerogel is often combined with graphite heat spreaders or vapor chamber (VC) heat pipes to enable directional thermal management.
Smartphones:
• In December 2020, Xiaomi 11 became the first smartphone globally to widely adopt nano-aerogel.
• In July 2025, HONOR Magic V5 was the first foldable flagship phone to incorporate aerogel insulation material.
• In October of the same year, Wuhan Institute of Advanced Technology and OPPO jointly developed a supercritical aerogel derived from aerospace rocket technology for smartphones, achieving a thermal conductivity as low as 0.025W/(m·K).
• A certain brand’s Snapdragon 8 Gen3 platform model (project code K18) added a 0.2mm aerogel film above the SoC shielding cover, paired with a VC heat pipe underneath. Real-world testing at CETC Laboratory showed that after running Genshin Impact at full load for 30 minutes, the back cover's hotspot temperature was 4.2°C lower than the control group, while average temperature in the grip area dropped by 3°C.
Laptops:
• Replacing traditional air gaps with aerogel insulation films allows a reduction of 0.8mm in body thickness while maintaining the same cooling efficiency, and reduces the maximum surface temperature of the CPU under full load by 3°C. Dell Latitude 7000 series also uses aerogel insulation films to improve thermal efficiency.
Smart Wearables and AR/VR:
• Smartwatches and TWS earbuds feature extremely compact internal spaces, with heat-generating components close to the skin, making users highly sensitive to temperature increases. A certain brand of AR glasses incorporates an aerogel film beneath the near-eye display module, keeping the facial contact temperature below 34°C during operation.