Two-Phase Thermal Metamaterial

Abstract

The capability of thermal metamaterials is required from single function to multifunction under different external heat conditions. The methods to develop thermal materials by simple structural transformations have been explored. While, the components of traditional thermal metamaterial are mainly set as solid materials, which is difficult to change the composition of materials, such as recombing and fixing the spatial position of material, because of material rigidity. Therefore, the potential of thermal materials is limited. Liquid has fluidity in spatial structure, for which the efficient combination of solid-liquid materials provides an avenue for dynamically modeling thermal field. Herein, we propose the concept of two-phase thermal metamaterial, which is switchable by microscale elements. On one side, we develop a switchable thermal meta-unit manipulated by micro-element under the gradient field and explore the process of heat transfer by focusing on radiation and conduction under translucent media condition. Otherwise, we propose a method to achieve a non-reciprocal heat transfer system by the design of two-phase media. The propose of two-phase thermal metamaterials set a general background for a variety of applications for complex conditions.