1/27/2017 Forthismetal,electricityflows,butnottheheat

Forthismetal,electricityflows,butnottheheat
January26,2017inPhysics/CondensedMatter

Vanadiumdioxide(VO2)nanobeamssynthesizedbyBerkeleyresearchersshowexoticelectricalandthermal
properties.Inthisfalsecolorscanningelectronmicroscopyimage,thermalconductivitywasmeasuredby
transportingheatfromthesuspendedheatsourcepad(red)tothesensingpad(blue).Thepadsarebridgedbya
VO2nanobeam.Credit:JunqiaoWu/BerkeleyLab

There'saknownrulebreakeramongmaterials,andanewdiscoverybyaninternationalteamofscientistsaddsmoreevidence
tobackupthemetal'snonconformistreputation.AccordingtoanewstudyledbyscientistsattheDepartmentofEnergy's
LawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory(BerkeleyLab)andattheUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,electronsinvanadium
dioxidecanconductelectricitywithoutconductingheat.

Thefindings,tobepublishedintheJan.27issueofthejournalScience,couldleadtoawiderangeofapplications,suchas
thermoelectricsystemsthatconvertwasteheatfromenginesandappliancesintoelectricity.

Formostmetals,therelationshipbetweenelectricalandthermalconductivityisgovernedbytheWiedemannFranzLaw.
Simplyput,thelawstatesthatgoodconductorsofelectricityarealsogoodconductorsofheat.Thatisnotthecaseformetallic
vanadiumdioxide,amaterialalreadynotedforitsunusualabilitytoswitchfromaninsulatortoametalwhenitreachesabalmy
67degreesCelsius,or152degreesFahrenheit.

"Thiswasatotallyunexpectedfinding,"saidstudyprincipalinvestigatorJunqiaoWu,aphysicistatBerkeleyLab'sMaterials
SciencesDivisionandaUCBerkeleyprofessorofmaterialsscienceandengineering."Itshowsadrasticbreakdownofa
textbooklawthathasbeenknowntoberobustforconventionalconductors.Thisdiscoveryisoffundamentalimportancefor
understandingthebasicelectronicbehaviorofnovelconductors."

Inthecourseofstudyingvanadiumdioxide'sproperties,WuandhisresearchteampartneredwithOlivierDelaireatDOE'sOak
RidgeNationalLaboratoryandanassociateprofessoratDukeUniversity.UsingresultsfromsimulationsandXrayscattering
experiments,theresearcherswereabletoteaseouttheproportionofthermalconductivityattributabletothevibrationofthe
material'scrystallattice,calledphonons,andtothemovementofelectrons.

Totheirsurprise,theyfoundthatthethermalconductivityattributedtotheelectronsistentimessmallerthanwhatwouldbe
expectedfromtheWiedemannFranzLaw.

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1/27/2017 Forthismetal,electricityflows,butnottheheat

BerkeleyLabscientistsJunqiaoWu,FanYang,andChanghyunKo(lr)areworkingatthenanoAugerelectron
spectroscopyinstrumentattheMolecularFoundry,aDOEOfficeofScienceUserFacility.Theyusedthe
instrumenttodeterminetheamountoftungsteninthetungstenvanadiumdioxide(WVO2)nanobeams.Credit:
MarilynChung/BerkeleyLab

"Theelectronsweremovinginunisonwitheachother,muchlikeafluid,insteadofasindividualparticleslikeinnormal
metals,"saidWu."Forelectrons,heatisarandommotion.Normalmetalstransportheatefficientlybecausetherearesomany
differentpossiblemicroscopicconfigurationsthattheindividualelectronscanjumpbetween.Incontrast,thecoordinated,
marchingbandlikemotionofelectronsinvanadiumdioxideisdetrimentaltoheattransferastherearefewerconfigurations
availablefortheelectronstohoprandomlybetween."

Notably,theamountofelectricityandheatthatvanadiumdioxidecanconductistunablebymixingitwithothermaterials.
Whentheresearchersdopedsinglecrystalvanadiumdioxidesampleswiththemetaltungsten,theyloweredthephasetransition
temperatureatwhichvanadiumdioxidebecomesmetallic.Atthesametime,theelectronsinthemetallicphasebecamebetter
heatconductors.Thisenabledtheresearcherstocontroltheamountofheatthatvanadiumdioxidecandissipatebyswitchingits
phasefrominsulatortometalandviceversa,attunabletemperatures.

Suchmaterialscanbeusedtohelpscavengeordissipatetheheatinengines,orbedevelopedintoawindowcoatingthat
improvestheefficientuseofenergyinbuildings,theresearcherssaid.

"Thismaterialcouldbeusedtohelpstabilizetemperature,"saidstudycoleadauthorFanYang,apostdoctoralresearcherat
BerkeleyLab'sMolecularFoundry,aDOEOfficeofScienceUserFacilitywheresomeoftheresearchwasdone."Bytuningits
thermalconductivity,thematerialcanefficientlyandautomaticallydissipateheatinthehotsummerbecauseitwillhavehigh
thermalconductivity,butpreventheatlossinthecoldwinterbecauseofitslowthermalconductivityatlowertemperatures."

Vanadiumdioxidehastheaddedbenefitofbeingtransparentbelowabout30degreesCelsius(86degreesFahrenheit),and
absorptiveofinfraredlightabove60degreesCelsius(140degreesFahrenheit).

Yangnotedthattherearemorequestionsthatneedtobeansweredbeforevanadiumdioxidecanbecommercialized,butsaid
thatthisstudyhighlightsthepotentialofamaterialwith"exoticelectricalandthermalproperties."

Whilethereareahandfulofothermaterialsbesidesvanadiumdioxidethatcanconductelectricitybetterthanheat,thoseoccur
attemperatureshundredsofdegreesbelowzero,makingitchallengingtodevelopintorealworldapplications,thescientists
said.

Moreinformation:"Anomalouslylowelectronicthermalconductivityinmetallicvanadiumdioxide"Science,
science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aag0410

ProvidedbyLawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory

"Forthismetal,electricityflows,butnottheheat"January26,2017https://phys.org/news/201701metalelectricity.html

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