Introduction of Asymmetry to Enhance Thermal Transport in Porous Metamaterials at Low Temperature

Abstract

Introducing porosity with different degrees of disorder has been widely used to regulate thermal properties of materials, which generally results in decrease of thermal conductivity. We investigate the thermal conductivity of porous metamaterials in the ballistic transport region by using the Lorentz gas model. It is found that the introduction of asymmetry and Gaussian disorder into porous metamaterials can lead to a strong enhancement of thermal conductivity. By dividing the transport process into ballistic transport, non-ballistic transport, and unsuccessful transport processes, we find that the enhancement of thermal conductivity originates from the significant increase ballistic transport ratio. The findings enhance the understanding of ballistic thermal transport in porous materials and may facilitate designs of high-performance porous thermal metamaterials.