Directing Nanoscale Heat Flow in Nanocrystal-Based Metamaterials
Today, nanocrystals are establishing themselves as a versatile solution for the manufacture of next-generation of optoelectronic devices such as LEDs, photodetectors and photovoltaic cells. Recent work even suggests that ordered assemblies of nanoparticles, known as supercrystals or metamaterials, exhibit an even wider range of emergent properties ranging from mechanics to thermoelectricity and even catalytic functions. However, the heat generated during the use of such devices is likely to cause physical and chemical instabilities leading to the degradation of the active material and thus its performance. In collaboration with the University of Hamburg and the institutes LPS and MONARIS, members of the Physical Chemistry and Dynamics of Surfaces team at INSP showed that it is possible to control heat flux at the nano-scale in these metamaterials by playing with the shape and organization of the nanocrystals that compose them. This discovery paves the way for new thermal management methods that promise to increase the robustness and efficiency of these supercrystalline solids.
Reference
“Anisotropic Thermal Transport in Tunable Self-Assembled Nanocrystal Supercrystals”
Matias Feldman, Charles Vernier, Rahul Nag, Juan Barrios-Capuchino, Sébastien Royer, Hervé Cruguel, Emmanuelle Lacaze, Emmanuel Lhuillier, Danièle Fournier, Florian Schulz, Cyrille Hamon, Hervé Portalès, James K. Utterback.
ACS Nano 18, 34341–34352 (2024)
Contact
James Utterback : james.utterback(at)insp.jussieu.fr
