Abstract The thermal rectification of a conductive thermal diode made up of two phase-change materials, whose thermal conductivities significantly change within a narrow interval of temperatures, is theoretically studied and optimized. This is done by deriving analytical expressions for the temperature profiles, heat fluxes and rectification factor. An optimal rectification factor of 60% is obtained for a thermal diode operating with terminals of VO 2 and Polyethylene with a temperature difference of 250 K spanning the metal–insulator transition of both materials. It is shown that this high rectification of a conductive thermal diode could be maximized even more by increasing the thermal conductivity variations of both diode terminals. The obtained results can thus be useful to guide the development of phase-change materials capable of optimizing the rectification of conductive heat fluxes.

中文翻译：

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基于两种相变材料的导热二极管

摘要 从理论上研究和优化了由两种相变材料组成的导热二极管的热整流，其热导率在较窄的温​​度区间内发生显着变化。这是通过导出温度曲线、热通量和整流因子的解析表达式来完成的。对于使用 VO 2 和聚乙烯的端子工作的热二极管获得了 60% 的最佳整流系数，两种材料的金属-绝缘体转变的温差为 250 K。结果表明，通过增加两个二极管端子的热导率变化，可以进一步最大化导热二极管的这种高整流。