Surface plasmon-enhanced near-field thermal rectification in graphene-based structures

We propose a thermal rectification structure composed of InSb and graphene-coated 3C-SiC separated by a nanoscale vacuum gap. To obtain an obvious thermal rectification effect, the permittivities of these materials are all considered to be temperature-dependent. Numerical calculations based on fluctuation electrodynamics reveal that the introduction of graphene into the structure enhances significantly near-field radiative heat flux and thermal rectification efficiency owing to the strong coupling of surface plasmon-polaritons between InSb and graphene. In general, the rectification efficiency above 60% can be maintained for the vacuum gap less than 70 nm. The rectification efficiency exceeding 95% is realized for a vacuum gap of 10 nm and a chemical potential of 0.1 eV. Increasing the emitter's temperature leads to the drastic increase of the rectification efficiency in a wider temperature range. A lower chemical potential seems more favorable to raising rapidly the rectification efficiency. The above results might be helpful in designing a thermal diode with higher efficiency and wider vacuum gap. Published by AIP Publishing.