Beyond Fourier Heat Flux Manipulation through Nano-Architectured 2D Materials – BF2D

Making feasible and reliable the densification of electronic devices requires intelligent and innovative design solutions at the nanoscale. In this project, we propose to exploit new phenomena that have been predicted theoretically and numerically at the nanoscale and/or proven partially experimentally: ballistic transport, coherent phonon transport, thermal rectification, and thermal hydrodynamic transport. Furthermore, we focus on two-dimensional nanoarchitectured materials (2D) that continue to revolutionize the way we design high performance devices, particularly in the areas of microelectronics, sustainable energy conversion and storage, or remediation and sensing. 2D materials have been introduced as a very promising solution for thermal management materials solving the issues of severe heat dissipation in both electronic and optoelectronic devices. There are two main reasons for the increase interest : their extraordinary thermal anisotropy and their large lateral phonon mean free path.
The BF2D project is fundamental and very ambitious scientifically and technically. Our proposal aims at developing intelligent energy management based on nanoarchitectured 2D materials to create and tailor anisotropic thermal transport properties at room temperature. The originality of our project is to investigate the spatial organization and density distribution of phonon scattering centres at the same scale as phonon wavelengths (few nm at 300K). The proposed functionalisation consists on partial perforation amorphization of the membranes, the mesoscopic structure asymmetry of flakes (eg. trapezoids) or the lateral heterostructure strategies (graphene/h-BN, partial encapsulation or suspension, or pristine 2D monolayers on top of a bi-substrate).
To achieve the objectives of the project, we have gathered a consortium of very high scientific expertise on nanomaterials. The project will enable the five laboratories (CETHIL, In. Néel, LOMA, IMPMC and DPHY/CMT-ONERA) to propose new elaboration protocols to obtain nanoarchitectured 2D materials and to bridge the gap between fundamental nanometric research and applications, focusing here on thermal management and on thermal rectification. The novel concept of BF2D project is the innovative breaktrhough in thermal and energy engineering of functionalised 2D materials combining original elaboration and intelligent nano-fonctionalisation, innovative measurement techniques and atomistic and mesoscopic simulations to select the best functionalisation strategies and configuration candidates. Here, we propose to study, develop, and enhance new materials design strategies to achieve preferential thermal dissipation direction with final objective the creation of building blocks for thermal management such as heat guides, lenses, spreaders, or thermal rectifiers (thermotronics).