Numerical study of macroscopic thermal diodes: influence of interface topography and contact resistance

We continue our exploration of solid-state thermal diodes – a compact, fully passive asset for next-generation thermal management.

Our latest paper, “Numerical study of macroscopic thermal diodes: influence of interface topography and contact resistance,” has just been published in iScience (IF 4.1).

🔍 Key insights:

• Interface topography alone has little effect on the rectification factor when contact resistance is negligible. However, it can extend the temperature range of rectification by up to 10 K.

Constant contact resistance tends to reduce rectification. However, when temperature-dependent contact resistance is introduced at low temperatures, rectification can be boosted significantly. In one case, from nearly zero to nearly unity.

These findings provide new guidelines for optimizing solid-state thermal diodes and open up exciting possibilities for practical thermal management applications.