Graphene-based thermal repeater

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel graphene-based thermal repeater that significantly enhances radiative heat transfer between nanoparticles, enabling long-distance thermal communication and energy modulation.

Contribution

It introduces a new method using multilayered graphene and silica shells to efficiently relay heat over long distances in the far-field regime.

Findings

Heat transfer enhanced by over six orders of magnitude.

Relay distance achieved up to 35 times in the far-field.

Potential applications in long-distance thermal communication.

Abstract

In this letter, we have demonstrated the possibility to efficiently relay the radiative heat flux between two nanoparticles by opening a smooth channel for heat transfer. By coating the nanoparticles with a silica shell and modifying the substrate with multilayered graphene sheets respectively, the localized phonon polaritons excited near the nanoparticles can couple with the multiple surface plasmon polaritons near the substrate to realize the heat relay in the long distance. The heat transfer can be enhanced by more than six orders of magnitude and the relay distance can be as high as 35 times in the far-field regime. The work may provide a way to realize the energy modulation or thermal communications especially in long distance.