UCLA Engineers Divulge High-Speed Solid-State Thermal Transistor for Advanced Heat Control
UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) engineers have divulged a novel solid-state thermal transistor capable of rapidly switching heat flows on and off using an electric field a long-sought innovation that could conductor in a new era of advanced heat management technologies.
The research team’s room-temperature thermal transistor demonstrated record-high speeds, switching cycles, and heat flow control range by manipulating charge transport and chemical bonding forces.
The thermal transistor consists of a gold base layer coated with a mono-layer of specialized “carboranethiol” molecules that stand upright and link to a top graphene layer. The interface between the molecular layer and the gold substrate forms the critical foundation for thermal resistance and switching.
An electric field to a gate terminal controls the thermal transistor’s operation. Researchers can shift bonding charge distributions and electronic structure at the gold-molecule junction by tuning the field strength. This, in turn, modulates interfacial thermal transport phenomena such as phonon scattering processes and electron-phonon interactions determining how much heat conducts from the gold substrate through the molecular layer.
The interface bonding manipulation approach enables fast switching speeds, cycles, and range improvements compared to existing thermal conductivity tuning methods reliant on slower molecular motions or deformations. Unlike past prototypes requiring fluid components, microelectromechanical systems, or exotic materials, the team’s design focuses on basic surface science principles applied at accessible solid-state interfaces.
