Electrically-controlled near-field radiative thermal modulator made of graphene-coated silicon carbide plates

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn this work, we propose a hybrid near-field radiative thermal modulator made of two graphene-covered silicon carbide (SiC) plates separated by a nanometer vacuum gap. The near-field photon tunneling between the emitter and receiver is modulated by changing graphene chemical potential with symmetrically or asymmetrically applied voltage biases. The radiative heat flux calculated from fluctuational electrodynamics significantly varies with graphene chemical potentials due to tunable near-field coupling strength between graphene plasmon across the vacuum gap. Thermal modulation and switching, which are the key functionalities required for a thermal modulator, are theoretically realized and analyzed. Newly introduced quantities of the modulation factor, the sensitivity factor and switching factor are studied quite extensively in a large parameter range for both graphene chemical potential and vacuum gap distance. This opto-electronic device with faster operating mode, which is in principle only limited by electronics and not by the thermal inertia, will facilitate the practical application of active thermal management, thermal circuits, and thermal computing with photon-based near-field thermal transport.

Smart thermal management with near-field thermal radiation

“…Among all materials, graphene-based materials [63,64], have shown to be good candidates to ensure this control. By changing the Fermi level of a graphene sheet deposited on a solid using an external gating, the scattering properties of this solid can be actively modulated [51,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]. This electrical actuation of optical properties of graphene-based materials has been exploited to efficiently tune and even amplify the near-field heat exchanges between two solids (see Fig.…”

Gate voltage and doping effects on near-field radiation heat transfer in plasmonic heterogeneous pairs of graphene and black phosphorene

“…18 Moreover, graphene supports strongly conned surface plasmons with a frequency that varies with the wave number. [24][25][26] Theoretically predicted tuning and coupling of surface mode plasmon of a graphene sheet with a nearby body, resulting in a signicant increase of the NFRHT, [27][28][29][30] has been conrmed experimentally. 31 In addition, the near-eld active thermal radiation response of graphene in subwavelength geometries, graphene ribbon, 32,33 periodic nanoribbon, 34 or nanodisks [35][36][37] has demonstrated enhanced radiation.…”

Near-field radiation assisted smart skin for spacecraft thermal control

“…The significant enhancement of heat exchange in the near-field regime are promising to enlarge the variation range of heat flux when being modulated. Meanwhile, near-field thermal radiation brings more efficient ways to regulate radiative heat transfer [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. These advantages inspire us to design a smart thermal control scheme with the help of near-field thermal radiation.…”