Computational Study of Thermal Rectification From Nanostructured Interfaces

Thermal rectification is a phenomenon in which transport is preferred in one direction over the opposite. Although observations of thermal rectification have been elusive, it could be useful in many applications such as thermal management of electronics and improvement of thermoelectric devices. The current work explores the possibility of thermally rectifying devices with the use of nanostructured interfaces. Interfaces can theoretically result in thermally rectifying behavior because of the difference in phonon frequency content between two dissimilar materials. The current work shows an effective rectification of greater than 25% in a device composed of two different materials divided equally by a single planar interface.