Thermal management article and method

1. An article, comprising:

a display layer having an outward facing surface and an inward facing surface, and the display layer comprising a light-emitting device that generates heat and light during use; and

a thermal transport layer secured to the display layer wherein the thermal transport layer can transport heat generated by the light-emitting device away from the light-emitting device.

2. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer is secured to the inward facing surface, the outward facing surface or to both the inward and the outward facing surfaces of the display layer.

3. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer has a refractive index and the display layer has a refractive index and the refractive index differential between the thermal transport layer and the display layer is less than 0.1.

4. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer has a refractive index and the display layer has a refractive index and the refractive index of the thermal transport layer is equal to the refractive index of the display layer.

5. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer comprises an inorganic layer.

6. The article as defined in claim 5 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises a carbide, a silicide, an oxide, or a nitride.

7. The article as defined in claim 5 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises silicon carbide.

8. The article as defined in claim 5 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises indium tin oxide, aluminum doped indium tin oxide, or zinc doped indium tin oxide.

9. The article as defined in claim 8 , wherein the inorganic layer further comprises a sub-nanometer thick metal buffer layer.

10. The article as defined in claim 5 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises silicon nitride, boron nitride, or gallium nitride.

11. The article as defined in claim 5 , wherein the inorganic layer comprises a plurality of nano-particles.

12. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer has a thickness that is less than 1 micrometer.

13. The article as defined in claim 12 , wherein the thermal transport layer has a thickness in a range of from about 10 nanometers to about 100 nanometers.

14. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the thermal transport layer has a flexural strength in a range of from about 10 gigaPascal to about 400 gigaPascal.

15. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the display layer is part of a stack of display layers.

16. The article as defined in claim 15 , wherein the stack is a three-dimensional display stack.

17. The article as defined in claim 15 , wherein there is at least two thermal transport layers for every one display layer of the stack.

18. The article as defined in claim 15 , wherein the light-emitting devices deeper in the stack get more electricity and generate more heat, so there are more thermal transport layers with higher thermal removal efficiency in the stack.

19. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein there is a plurality of heat dissipating structures around the peripheral edge of the display layer in thermal communication with both the thermal transport layers and the display layers.

20. The article as defined in claim 19 , wherein the heat dissipating structure comprises a synthetic jet, a heat exchanger, a heat spreader, a heat sink, a radiator, one or more Peltier devices, air flow, or a heat pipe.

21. The article as defined in claim 19 , wherein the thermal transport layer is in further thermal communication with a heat absorbing structure spaced at a distance from the display layer.

22. The article as defined in claim 21 , wherein the thermal transport layer is in thermal communication with the heat absorbing structure via a non-transparent highly thermally conductive material such as metalized sheets, conductive glass coating, and porous structural carbon films.

23. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting device is an inorganic light-emitting device or a light-emitting nano-wire device.

24. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting device is an organic light-emitting device.

25. The article as defined in claim 1 , wherein the display layer further comprises a reversibly opacifying layer.

26. The article as defined in claim 25 , wherein the opacifying layer responds to an electrical signal by switching to or from a light transmissive state from or to a light blocking or light absorbing state.

27. The article as defined in claim 25 , wherein the opacifying layer is disposed on a surface of the display layer opposite to a surface of the display layer that emits light.