One of research interests in our group is applying metamaterials into energy harvesting applications. Due to its flexible and engineerable ability to control the thermal radiation beyond the natural materials, metamaterial emitters can greatly enhance the energy conversion efficiency. In addition, by integrating mechanical, electrical, thermal or optical controllable functionalities into metamaterials, the thermal radiation can be externally controlled and some artificial “smart materials”, which are more energy efficient, can be designed.
Major Research Areas
Metamaterial Thermal Emission
We are currently focusing on designing metamaterial emitters based on Microelectromechanical systems, graphene and liquid crystals to achieve control over of the thermal emission of radiation and explore the “super emission”, which is beyond the Stefan–Boltzmann law.
High Temperature Metamaterials
We are exploring metamaterial designs built using materials capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. These metamaterials could be used for tailoring the emissivity for thermal photovoltaic systems.