The open porosity, low relative density, high thermal
conductivity, large surface area per unit volume, and the ability
to enhance fluid mixing can make metal foam thermal
management devices efficient, compact, and light-weight. Two
major advantages of using metal foams as substrates are the large
surface area per unit volume and a thermal conductivity higher
than that of the desiccant. A relatively large quantity of silica aerogel
can be deployed as thin coating on the foam, and the higher
thermal conductivity of the foam assists in removing the heat of
adsorption and can provide heat for desorption. A proposed configuration
consisting of metal foam coated with silica aerogel is
shown in Fig. 1 [9].