Electric field nearly triples heat flow through a ceramic
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ohio State University found that applying an electric field to a relaxor-based ferroelectric ceramic raises its heat conduction by nearly threefold in a preferred direction. The gain is roughly 30 to 60 times larger than anything p
Scientists have found a way to switch heat flow up and down with electricity. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ohio State University, working with Amphenol Corporation, applied an electric field to a class of ceramics called relaxor-based ferroelectrics and watched their heat conduction rise by nearly three hundred percent in a preferred direction. The field lines up tiny electric charges inside the material, which reduces the scattering of phonons, the vibrations that carry heat through a solid. The phonons then moved faster and survived longer before scattering. The measured gain was roughly 30 to 60 times larger than anything previously documented in a bulk solid under an external electric field. The result points toward more efficient cooling for hot electronics and energy-saving devices. Source: ScienceDaily, SciTechDaily, PRX Energy.