Symposium QN05-Emerging Thermal Materials—From Nanoscale to Multiscale Thermal Transport, Energy Conversion, Storage and Thermal Management

Thermal properties of materials, such as conductivity, transduction and expansion, often determine or limit material functionality (~nanoscale) and device design (~micro- to macroscale). Thus, a broad expanse of research is currently engaged in synthesis and characterization of novel thermal materials, as well as theoretical efforts to understand thermal properties and predict thermal materials and functionalities. This symposium will broadly cover thermal properties of current and emerging thermal materials, with aspects bridging nanoscale and multiscale thermal transport to applications. It will highlight three emerging aspects of thermal energy research: (i) new thermal materials and functionalities, (ii) novel theories and characterization techniques, and (iii) emerging applications and devices. The first part of the symposium will focus on emerging materials and systems for thermoelectric, thermophotovoltaics, thermo-electrochemical, thermo-acoustic, ferroelectric, and magnetic energy harvesting, storage, and materials with extreme thermal conductivity for thermal management. Discussions include rational design, chemical synthesis, growth mechanisms, fabrication routes, property optimization and external field control, all including new fundamental science breakthroughs. The second part of this symposium will focus on recent developments in nanoscale thermal transport as characterized and described by new experimental metrologies and theoretical methods. With continuing device miniaturization, as well as the development of novel measurement techniques, such as ultrafast laser spectroscopies, that make possible the probing of material properties at these length scales, new insights of non-Fourier heat conduction and near-field radiation being uncovered. Discussions will include recent measurements near nanoscale resolution using advanced characterization techniques such as pump-probe thermoreflectance measurements, Raman thermometry, atomic force microscopy-based thermometry, and recent modeling using atomistic tools such as density functional theory, molecular dynamics, and Green's functions methods, as well as multi-scale modeling. Possible topics of interest are thermal transport in extreme environments (high pressure/temperature), phase change materials for energy storage, non-Fourier thermal transport and conductance via other than phonon and electron heat carriers, thermal radiation from metamaterials, nanothermodynamics. The third part of the symposium will focus on devices and applications over multiple length scales: examples include but are not limited to nanoscale thermal rectification devices, mesoscopic phononic crystals, and macroscopic thermal batteries, solar thermal plants and data farms, as well as energy conversion, storage, and thermal management of electronics, photonics, and batteries.

Topics will include:

Emerging high thermal conductivity materials
Emerging thermal interface materials and thermal boundary resistance
Thermal insulation and multifunctional materials (mesoporous materials, ambient gels, aerogels)
Acoustic metamaterials, phononic, thermo-mechanical, and thermo-acoustic materials
Thermal management of batteries, super capacitors, electronics,photonics, electrochemical systems and the Internet of things
Thermal energy harvesting and storage materials
Thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic energy conversion
Heat transport in soft matter, including drug delivery and biomedical control, biological and bioinspired materials, bio-instruments
Defect mediated thermal transport
Thermal transport in 2D, 1D and 0D materials, and extreme conditions
Nanoscale heat conduction in materials, devices, and integrated systems
Multiscale thermal transport from non-Fourier to diffusion
Radiative cooling and thermal radiation and in the near-field or involving sub-wavelength objects such as metamaterials
Modelling and simulations of thermal transport from atomic scale to micrometer scale
Phonon spectroscopies (ultrafast laser, 3D SEM, Raman) and new metrologies
Ab initio and atomistic calculations for designing, predicting, and analyzing thermal properties, phonon spectra, and interfacial spectral transmission

Invited Speakers:

Gang Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Yi Cui (Stanford University, USA)
Dimos Poulikakos (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Ronggui Yang (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Li Shi (University of Texas, USA)
Nicholas Fang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Jeff Snyder (Northwestern University, USA)
Arun Majumdar (Stanford Unversity, USA)
Chris Dames (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Sebastian Volz (École Centrale Paris, France)
David Broido (Boston College, USA)
David Cahill (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
Timothy Fisher (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Kenneth Goodson (Stanford University, USA)
Samuel Graham (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
Costas Grigoropoulos (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Joseph Heremans (The Ohio State University, USA)
José Lage (National Science Foundation, USA)
Natalio Mingo (Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, Grenoble, France)
Jayathi Murthy (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Laurent Pilon (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Evelyn Wang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)