Asymmetric Heat Transfer with Linear Conductive Metamaterials

Yishu Su, Ying Li, Minghong Qi, Sebastien Guenneau, Huagen Li, and Jian Xiong

Phys. Rev. Applied 20, 034013 – Published 7 September 2023

Abstract

Asymmetric heat-transfer systems, often referred to as thermal diodes or thermal rectifiers, have garnered increasing interest due to their wide range of application possibilities. Most of those previous macroscopic asymmetric thermal devices either resort to nonlinear thermal conductivities with strong temperature dependence that may be quite limited by or fixed in natural materials or rely on active modulation that necessitates auxiliary energy payloads. Here, we establish a straightforward strategy of passively realizing asymmetric heat transfer with linear conductive materials. The strategy also introduces an interrogative perspective into the previous design of passive asymmetric heat transfer utilizing nonlinear thermal conductivity, correcting the misconception that thermal rectification is impossible with separable nonlinear thermal conductivity. The nonlinear-perturbation mode can be versatilely engineered to produce an effective and wide-ranging perturbation in heat conduction, which imitates and bypasses intrinsic thermal nonlinearity constraints set by naturally occurring counterparts. Independent experimental characterizations of surface thermal radiation and thermal convection verify that heat exchange between a graded linear thermal metamaterial and the ambient surroundings can be tailored to achieve macroscopic asymmetric heat transfer. Our work is envisaged to inspire conceptual models for heat-transfer control, serving as a robust and convenient platform for advanced thermal management and thermal computation.

Received 29 March 2022
Revised 1 July 2023
Accepted 18 August 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.034013

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Heat radiation Heat transfer Metamaterials Thermal conductivity

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Yishu Su ^1,†, Ying Li^2,3,†, Minghong Qi^2,3,†, Sebastien Guenneau⁴, Huagen Li⁵, and Jian Xiong ^1,*

¹Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology Harbin 150001, China
²Interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Information, State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
³International Joint Innovation Center, Key Lab. of Advanced Micro/Nano Electronic Devices & Smart Systems of Zhejiang, The Electromagnetics Academy of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Haining 314400, China
⁴UMI 2004 Abraham de Moivre-CNRS, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
⁵Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117583, Singapore

^*jx@hit.edu.cn
^†Y. Su, Y. Li, and M. Qi contributed equally to this work.

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Issue

Vol. 20, Iss. 3 — September 2023

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Images

Figure 1
Asymmetric heat-transfer system with linear conductive material. (a) Traditional asymmetric heat-transfer system with nonlinear conductive material. (b) Nonreciprocal heat-transfer system with spatiotemporal material. (c) Asymmetric heat-transfer system with graded linear conductive material tailors the nonlinear perturbation inserted into the heat-conduction equation and the asymmetric heat-transfer temperature profile with uneven transfer heat flow caused by asymmetric thermal conductivity.
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Figure 2
Under transformation, $x^{'} = L - x$ , simulated asymmetric distribution of temperature (a) and effective thermal conductivity (b) at different ambient temperatures, $T_{A}$ , while considering radiative heat transfer with an emissivity of ε = 0.7 and nonlinear perturbation Φ. Actual thermal-conductivity distribution with $κ_{real} = - 300 x + 400$ [W/(m K), dark dashed line] when $Φ = 0$ .
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Figure 3
(a) Radiative heat transfer with an emissivity of ε = 0.7 and nonlinear perturbation Φ, for heat flux distributions at different ambient temperatures under the forward and backward heat flows when the thermal conductivity is distributed with κ_real= −300x + 400 W/(m K). (b) Rectification-ratio curves of heat inflow (solid dotted line) and outflow (hollow dotted line) under various linear parameters, k, of thermal conductivity, κ_real= −kx + 400 W/(m K). (c) Rectification-ratio curves of average heat flow under various linear parameters, k, of thermal conductivity.
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Figure 4
Experimental verification of asymmetric heat-transfer system. (a) Radiant heat-dissipation film is applied to the front and back of the sample with a particular thermal-conductivity distribution and inserted in a vacuum chamber. Inset is a sample photograph and initial display of experimental results. Comparison between the results of experiment and theory under (b) T_L= T_A = 297.3 K, T_H= 332.5 K and (c) T_H= T_A = 299 K, T_L= 263.1 K, considering only the thermal-radiation condition $(ε_{eff} \approx 0.5) and$ k = 300, L = 0.15 m, h = 0.002 m. Test component is seen in (b),(c) with holes of varying sizes in a sample. Heat conductivity decreases as the hole size increases. (d) Comparison between the results of experiment and theory under natural conditions, considering both thermal convection and radiation. (e) Calculated result considering only thermal convection. (f) Rectification coefficient derived from experimental and theoretical data.
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