Radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale: experimental trends and challenges

Far-infrared therapy promotes exercise capacity and glucose metabolism in mice by modulating microbiota homeostasis and activating AMPK

The benefits of physical exercise on human health make it desirable to identify new approaches that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. However, whether far-infrared (FIR) hyperthermia therapy could be used as exercise mimetic to realize wide-ranging metabolic regulation, and its underling mechanisms remain unclear. Here, a specific far-infrared (FIR) rays generated from graphene-based hyperthermia devices might promote exercise capacity and metabolisms. The material characterization showed that the graphene synthesized by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) was different from carbon fiber, with single-layer structure and high electrothermal transform efficiency. The emission spectra generated by graphene-FIR device would maximize matching those adsorbed by tissues. Graphene-FIR enhanced both core and epidermal temperatures, leading to increased blood flow in the femoral muscle and the abdominal region. The combination of microbiomic and metabolomic analysis revealed that graphene-FIR modulates the metabolism of the gut-muscle axis. This modulation was characterized by an increased abundance of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA)-producing bacteria and AMP, while lactic acid levels decreased. Furthermore, the principal routes involved in glucose metabolism, such as glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, were found to be altered. Graphene-FIR managed to stimulate AMPK activity by activating GPR43, thus enhancing muscle glucose uptake. Furthermore, a microbiota disorder model also demonstrated that the graphene-FIR effectively restore the exercise endurance with enhanced p-AMPK and GLUT4. Our results provided convincing evidence that graphene-based FIR therapy promoted exercise capacity and glucose metabolism via AMPK in gut-muscle axis. These novel findings regarding the therapeutic effects of graphene-FIR suggested its potential utility as a mimetic agent in clinical management of metabolic disorders.

Review on the Scientific and Technological Breakthroughs in Thermal Emission Engineering

The emission of thermal radiation is a physical process of fundamental and technological interest. From different approaches, thermal radiation can be regarded as one of the basic mechanisms of heat transfer, as a fundamental quantum phenomenon of photon production, or as the propagation of electromagnetic waves. However, unlike light emanating from conventional photonic sources, such as lasers or antennas, thermal radiation is characterized for being broadband, omnidirectional, and unpolarized. Due to these features, ultimately tied to its inherently incoherent nature, taming thermal radiation constitutes a challenging issue. Latest advances in the field of nanophotonics have led to a whole set of artificial platforms, ranging from spatially structured materials and, much more recently, to time-modulated media, offering promising avenues for enhancing the control and manipulation of electromagnetic waves, from far- to near-field regimes. Given the ongoing parallelism between the fields of nanophotonics and thermal emission, these recent developments have been harnessed to deal with radiative thermal processes, thereby forming the current basis of thermal emission engineering. In this review, we survey some of the main breakthroughs carried out in this burgeoning research field, from fundamental aspects to theoretical limits, the emergence of effects and phenomena, practical applications, challenges, and future prospects.

Machine Learning Aided Design and Optimization of Thermal Metamaterials

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced material research that were previously intractable, for example, the machine learning (ML) has been able to predict some unprecedented thermal properties. In this review, we first elucidate the methodologies underpinning discriminative and generative models, as well as the paradigm of optimization approaches. Then, we present a series of case studies showcasing the application of machine learning in thermal metamaterial design. Finally, we give a brief discussion on the challenges and opportunities in this fast developing field. In particular, this review provides: (1) Optimization of thermal metamaterials using optimization algorithms to achieve specific target properties. (2) Integration of discriminative models with optimization algorithms to enhance computational efficiency. (3) Generative models for the structural design and optimization of thermal metamaterials.

Observation of Near-Field Thermal Radiation between Coplanar Nanodevices with Subwavelength Dimensions

With the continuous advancement of nanotechnology, nanodevices have become crucial components in computing, sensing, and energy conversion applications. The structures of nanodevices typically possess subwavelength dimensions and separations, which pose significant challenges for understanding energy transport phenomena in nanodevices. Here, on the basis of a judiciously designed thermal photonic nanodevice, we report the first measurement of near-field energy transport between two coplanar subwavelength structures over temperature bias up to ∼190 K. Our experimental results demonstrate a 20-fold enhancement in energy transfer beyond blackbody radiation. In contrast with the well-established near-field interactions between two semi-infinite bodies, the subwavelength confinements in nanodevices lead to increased polariton scattering and reduction of supporting photonic modes and, therefore, a lower energy flow at a given separation. Our work unveils exciting opportunities for the rational design of nanodevices, particularly for coplanar near-field energy transport, with important implications for the development of efficient nanodevices for energy harvesting and thermal management.

Topological phase-dependent thermalization dynamics in radiative heat transfer: insights from a one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

Various unusual behavior of artificial materials is governed by their topological properties, among these, the edge state in classical and quantum wave systems has captured significant attention due to its widespread relevance and applications across various fields of study. Observation of such topological features has led researchers to extend the idea of band theory to diffusive systems. Inspired by the well-known Su-Schriefer-Heegar (SSH) model we employed the concept of band topology to explore the topological characteristics of radiative heat transfer in a one-dimensional chain consisting of an odd number of nanoparticles. We demonstrate the topological phase transition, and topological modes with edge as well as bulk states in an array of nanoparticles exchanging heat via radiation. The demonstrated topological features of radiative systems can find important applications in the future studies of heat transfer at the nanoscale.

Enhanced far-field coherent thermal emission using mid-infrared bilayer metasurfaces

A classical thermal source, such as an incandescent filament, radiates according to Planck's law. The feasibility of super-Planckian radiation has been investigated with sub-wavelength-sized sources in the last decade. In such sources, a crystal-dependent coupling of photons and optical phonons is possible at thermal energies corresponding to that at room temperature. This interaction can be used to tailor the far-field thermal emission in a coherent manner; however, understanding heat transfer during this process is still nascent. Here, we used a novel measurement platform to quantify thermal signals in a Ge2Sb2Te5/SiO2 nanoribbon structure. We were able to separate and quantify the radiated and conducted heat transfer mechanisms. The thermal emission from the Ge2Sb2Te5/SiO2 nanoribbons was enhanced by 3.5× compared to that of a bare SiO2 nanoribbon. Our model revealed that this enhancement was directly due to polaritonic heat transfer, which was possible due to the large and lossless dielectric permittivity of Ge2Sb2Te5 at mid-IR frequencies. This study directly probes the far-field emission with a thermal gradient stimulated by Joule heating in temperature ranges from 100 to 400 K, which bridges the gap between mid-IR optics and thermal engineering.

Measurement of Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer at Deep Sub-Wavelength Distances using Nanomechanical Resonators

Near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) measurements often rely on custom microdevices that can be difficult to reproduce after their original demonstration. Here we study NFRHT using plain silicon nitride (SiN) membrane nanomechanical resonators─a widely available substrate used in applications such as electron microscopy and optomechanics─and on which other materials can easily be deposited. We report measurements down to a minimal distance of 180 nm between a large radius of curvature (15.5 mm) glass radiator and a SiN membrane resonator. At such deep sub-wavelength distance, heat transfer is dominated by surface polariton resonances over a (0.25 mm)2 effective area, which is comparable to plane-plane experiments employing custom microfabricated devices. We also discuss how measurements using nanomechanical resonators create opportunities for simultaneously measuring near-field radiative heat transfer and thermal radiation forces (e.g., thermal corrections to Casimir forces).

Enhancement and Manipulation of Near-Field Thermal Radiation Using Hybrid Hyperbolic Polaritons

Owing to a high electromagnetic confinement and a strong photonic density of states, hyperbolic surface plasmon polaritons (HSPPs) provide a fascinating promise for applications in thermal photonics. In this work, we theoretically predict a possibility for the improvement of the near-field radiative heat transfer on the basis of tailoring the electromagnetic state of hyperbolic metasurfaces by the uniaxial hyperbolic substrate. By using the photonic tunneling coefficient and the polaritons dispersion, we present a comprehensive study of the hybrid effect of the hyperbolic substrate on HSPPs. We find that due to the hybrid effect of the hyperbolic substrate, the anisotropy surface state of hyperbolic metasurfaces would undergo significant deformations and even topological transition. Moreover, we systematically exhibit the evolution of such hybrid hyperbolic mode with different thicknesses of the hyperbolic substrate and analyze the thickness effect on radiative properties of the hybrid system. It is shown that the resulting heat transfer with the assistance of the hybrid hyperbolic mode by optimizing the substrate parameters is many times stronger than that of monolayer hyperbolic metasurface at the same vacuum gap. Taken together, our results provide a platform to tailor 2D hyperbolic plasmons as a potential strategy toward passive or active control of the near-field heat transfer, and the hybrid hyperbolic mode presented here may facilitate the system design for near-field energy harvesting, thermal imaging, and radiative cooling applications.

Scaling Planck's law: a unified approach to the Casimir effect and radiative heat-conductance in nanogaps

Using Planck's law from an innovative point of view brings about the possibility to understand the common origin of the repulsive Casimir thermal pressure and the heat exchange in nanogaps. Based on a scale transformation, a procedure that removes divergences of the energy density, we prove the validity of Planck's law to describe confined thermal radiation properties in nanoscale gaps. This scaling involves a configurational temperature obtained from Wien's displacement law and having an entropic origin. We derive analytical expressions for the Casimir thermal pressure as well as for the heat conductance. Comparison of our results with experimental data shows a remarkable agreement.

Environment-dependent vibrational heat transport in molecular junctions: Rectification, quantum effects, vibrational mismatch

Vibrational heat transport in molecular junctions is a central issue in different contemporary research areas such as chemistry, materials science, mechanical engineering, thermoelectrics, and power generation. Our model system consists of a chain of molecules which are sandwiched between two solids that are maintained at different temperatures. We employ a quantum self-consistent reservoir model, which is built on a generalized quantum Langevin equation, to investigate quantum effects and far from equilibrium conditions on thermal conduction at nanoscale. The present self-consistent reservoir model can easily mimic the phonon-phonon scattering mechanisms. Different thermal environments are modeled as (i) Ohmic, (ii) sub-Ohmic, and (iii) super-Ohmic environments, and their effects are demonstrated for the thermal rectification properties of the system with spring graded or mass graded features. The behavior of heat current across molecular junctions as a function of chain length, temperature gradient, and phonon scattering rates are studied. Further, our analysis reveals the effects of vibrational mismatch between the solids phonon spectra on heat transfer characteristics in molecular junctions for different thermal environments.