The
regulation and utilization of thermal energy is increasingly
important in modern society due to the growing demand for heating
and cooling in applications ranging from buildings, to cooling high
power electronics, and from personal thermal management to the pursuit
of renewable thermal energy technologies. Over billions of years of
natural selection, biological organisms have evolved unique mechanisms
and delicate structures for efficient and intelligent regulation and
utilization of thermal energy. These structures also provide inspiration
for developing advanced thermal engineering materials and systems
with extraordinary performance. In this review, we summarize research
progress in biological and bioinspired thermal energy materials and
technologies, including thermal regulation through insulation, radiative
cooling, evaporative cooling and camouflage, and conversion and utilization
of thermal energy from solar thermal radiation and biological bodies
for vapor/electricity generation, temperature/infrared sensing, and
communication. Emphasis is placed on introducing bioinspired principles,
identifying key bioinspired structures, revealing structure–property–function
relationships, and discussing promising and implementable bioinspired
strategies. We also present perspectives on current challenges and
outlook for future research directions. We anticipate that this review
will stimulate further in-depth research in biological and bioinspired
thermal energy materials and technologies, and help accelerate the
growth of this emerging field.