Abstract
Transformation optics (TO) is a powerful technique for manipulating diffusive transport, such as heat and electricity. While most studies have focused on individual heat and electrical flows, in many situations thermoelectric effects captured via the Seebeck coefficient may need to be considered. Here we apply a unified description of TO to thermoelectricity within the framework of thermodynamics and demonstrate that thermoelectric flow can be cloaked, diffused, rotated, or concentrated. Metamaterial composites using bilayer components with specified transport properties are presented as a means of realizing these effects in practice. The proposed thermoelectric cloak, diffuser, rotator, and concentrator are independent of the particular boundary conditions and can also operate in decoupled electric or heat modes.
Highlights
Unprecedented opportunities to manipulate electromagnetic fields and various types of transport have been discovered recently by utilizing metamaterials (MMs) capable of achieving cloaking, rotating, and concentrating effects [1,2,3,4]
Transformation optics (TO) techniques are applied to steady state TE transport using a general thermodynamic description, where the heat-electric coupling via the Seebeck coefficient is taken into account explicitly in the governing laws of charge and energy conservation
We find that the isotherms and equipotentials are different in the r¢ > R2 regions compared to the isotropic cases, while the r < R1 regions have the same behavior for the corresponding cases in figures 1(a)–(d) confirming that TE cloaking, rotating, and concentrating are achieved
Summary
Unprecedented opportunities to manipulate electromagnetic fields and various types of transport have been discovered recently by utilizing metamaterials (MMs) capable of achieving cloaking, rotating, and concentrating effects [1,2,3,4]. As a result of the coordinate transformations, the MMs properties are highly anisotropic and inhomogeneous, capable of changing fields and currents in a prescribed way This method has proven to be effective in achieving a negative index of refraction [5], negative magnetic permeability and electromagnetic cloaks [6, 7], and high resolution imaging devices [8, 9]. TO techniques are applied to steady state TE transport using a general thermodynamic description, where the heat-electric coupling via the Seebeck coefficient is taken into account explicitly in the governing laws of charge and energy conservation. This work presents new perspectives for manipulating TE phenomena as well as realizing a multi-domain range of applications
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