Solid-State Thermal Rectifier

TLDR

Thermal rectifiers, analogous to electrical diodes, are important for thermal management across scales from nanoscale devices to large buildings. The authors mass‑loaded carbon and boron‑nitride nanotubes with heavy molecules to create an inhomogeneous mass distribution, proposing that soliton dynamics, rather than conventional wave theory, underlie the rectification. The mass‑loaded nanotube system exhibits nanoscale solid‑state thermal rectification, with higher heat flow toward decreasing mass density.

Abstract

We demonstrated nanoscale solid-state thermal rectification. High-thermal-conductivity carbon and boron nitride nanotubes were mass-loaded externally and inhomogeneously with heavy molecules. The resulting nanoscale system yields asymmetric axial thermal conductance with greater heat flow in the direction of decreasing mass density. The effect cannot be explained by ordinary perturbative wave theories, and instead we suggest that solitons may be responsible for the phenomenon. Considering the important role of electrical rectifiers (diodes) in electronics, thermal rectifiers have substantial implications for diverse thermal management problems, ranging from nanoscale calorimeters to microelectronic processors to macroscopic refrigerators and energy-saving buildings.