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Thermal diode, a type of device that allows heat to flow in one directionpreferentially, can be employed in many thermal applications. However, if themechanical compliance of the thermal diode is poor, which prevents its intimatecontact with heat source or sink surfaces, the thermal rectificationperformance cannot be used to its full extent. In this work, we introduce aheterojunction thermal diode made of a phase change material (PCM) consistingof dual alkanes (hexadecane and paraffine wax) and polyurethane. The fabricatedthermal diode exhibits an ultra soft mechanical feature, with a low elasticmodulus of 0.4 KPa and larger than 300% elongation until failure: the bestvalues reported to date for thermal diodes. The measured thermal rectificationfactor is as high as 1.42 that in line with the theoretical model prediction.Molecular dynamic simulations reveal that the thermal rectification mechanismof the PCM based thermal diode originates from the crystal-amorphous phasetransition of the hexadecane terminal as the temperature bias flips. Therefore,the heat flow in the forward direction is greater than the flux in the reversedirection. A series of experiments and finite element analyses are employed toverify the feasibility of thermal diodes for applications. Our resultsdemonstrate that the fabricated thermal diode can be potentially used inbuilding envelop to help with temperature regulation and thus reduce energyconsumption for space cooling or heating.

Ultra-soft Thermal Diodes Enabled by Dual-Alkane-Based Phase Change Composites