Dynamic Tuning of Near-field Radiative Thermal Rectification

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a reconfigurable near-field thermal rectifier using phase-transition metamaterials, achieving ultrahigh rectification ratios through active tuning around VO2's critical temperature.

Contribution

It introduces a novel active-tuning thermal rectifier with reconfigurable phase-transition metamaterials, achieving record-high rectification ratios at the nanoscale.

Findings

Ultrahigh rectification ratios of 23.7 and 19.8 achieved.

Active tuning enables dynamic control of thermal transport.

Analysis of geometric parameters influences rectification performance.

Abstract

Taking advantage of phase-transition and reconfigurable metamaterials, dynamic control of nanoscale thermal modulation can be achieved through the near-field radiative thermal rectification devices. In this work, an active-tuning near-field thermal rectifier using reconfigurable phase-transition metamaterials is explored. The rectifier has two terminals separated by vacuum, working under a controllable operational temperature around the critical temperature of the phase-transition material VO2. One of the terminals is a stretchable structure made of PDMS thin film and grating consisting of various types of phase-transition material. The effects of various inclusion forms and all the related geometric parameters are well analyzed. The controllable nanoscale thermal modulation can be achieved and the ultrahigh rectification ratios of 23.7 and 19.8, the highest values ever predicted, can be obtained for two deformation scenarios, respectively. It will shed light on the dynamic tuning of small-scale thermal transport and light manipulation.