Electric control of the heat flux through electrophononic effects

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how an external electric field can continuously and effectively control heat flux in ferroelectric PbTiO3, significantly tuning its thermal conductivity at room temperature.

Contribution

It reveals the mechanisms enabling electric modulation of heat flux in ferroelectric materials, with potential applications in thermal management.

Findings

Thermal conductivity can be tuned by up to 50% at room temperature.

Electric fields can continuously modulate heat flux in PbTiO3.

Mechanisms of electric control of heat flux are elucidated.

Abstract

We demonstrate a fully electric control of the heat flux, which can be continuously modulated by an externally applied electric field in PbTiO$_3$, a prototypical ferroelectric perovskite, revealing the mechanisms by which experimentally accessible fields can be used to tune the thermal conductivity by as much as 50% at room temperature.