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Title: Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators

Abstract

We theoretically demonstrate a near-field radiative thermal switch based on thermally excited surface plasmons in graphene resonators. The high tunability of graphene enables substantial modulation of near-field radiative heat transfer, which, when combined with the use of resonant structures, overcomes the intrinsically broadband nature of thermal radiation. In canonical geometries, we use nonlinear optimization to show that stacked graphene sheets offer improved heat conductance contrast between “ON” and “OFF” switching states and that a >10× higher modulation is achieved between isolated graphene resonators than for parallel graphene sheets. In all cases, we find that carrier mobility is a crucial parameter for the performance of a radiative thermal switch. Furthermore, we derive shape-agnostic analytical approximations for the resonant heat transfer that provide general scaling laws and allow for direct comparison between different resonator geometries dominated by a single mode. The presented scheme is relevant for active thermal management and energy harvesting as well as probing excited-state dynamics at the nanoscale.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics and Materials Science
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Engineering and Applied Science
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  4. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics and Energy Sciences Inst.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI); Solid- State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1470425
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001293
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Nano
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 3; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Journal ID: ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 42 ENGINEERING; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; solar (photovoltaic); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity; electrodes - solar; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly)

Citation Formats

Ilic, Ognjen, Thomas, Nathan H., Christensen, Thomas, Sherrott, Michelle C., Soljačić, Marin, Minnich, Austin J., Miller, Owen D., and Atwater, Harry A. Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b08231.
Ilic, Ognjen, Thomas, Nathan H., Christensen, Thomas, Sherrott, Michelle C., Soljačić, Marin, Minnich, Austin J., Miller, Owen D., & Atwater, Harry A. Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.7b08231
Ilic, Ognjen, Thomas, Nathan H., Christensen, Thomas, Sherrott, Michelle C., Soljačić, Marin, Minnich, Austin J., Miller, Owen D., and Atwater, Harry A. 2018. "Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.7b08231. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1470425.
@article{osti_1470425,
title = {Active Radiative Thermal Switching with Graphene Plasmon Resonators},
author = {Ilic, Ognjen and Thomas, Nathan H. and Christensen, Thomas and Sherrott, Michelle C. and Soljačić, Marin and Minnich, Austin J. and Miller, Owen D. and Atwater, Harry A.},
abstractNote = {We theoretically demonstrate a near-field radiative thermal switch based on thermally excited surface plasmons in graphene resonators. The high tunability of graphene enables substantial modulation of near-field radiative heat transfer, which, when combined with the use of resonant structures, overcomes the intrinsically broadband nature of thermal radiation. In canonical geometries, we use nonlinear optimization to show that stacked graphene sheets offer improved heat conductance contrast between “ON” and “OFF” switching states and that a >10× higher modulation is achieved between isolated graphene resonators than for parallel graphene sheets. In all cases, we find that carrier mobility is a crucial parameter for the performance of a radiative thermal switch. Furthermore, we derive shape-agnostic analytical approximations for the resonant heat transfer that provide general scaling laws and allow for direct comparison between different resonator geometries dominated by a single mode. The presented scheme is relevant for active thermal management and energy harvesting as well as probing excited-state dynamics at the nanoscale.},
doi = {10.1021/acsnano.7b08231},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1470425}, journal = {ACS Nano},
issn = {1936-0851},
number = 3,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 60 works
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Gate voltage and doping effects on near-field radiation heat transfer in plasmonic heterogeneous pairs of graphene and black phosphorene
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Near-Field Thermal Radiation of Nanopatterned Black Phosphorene Mediated by Topological Transitions of Phosphorene Plasmons
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Active Magneto-Optical Control of Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer between Graphene Sheets
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