Human activities consume energy and generate heat as byproducts. As these activities intensify, the world faces mounting challenges in the form of energy crises and global warming. As a researcher in the fields of thermal science and heat transfer physics, I am actively involved in addressing these critical concerns through two primary avenues: the development of green energy generation technologies and the efficient redistribution and reutilization of heat. Technological breakthroughs on efficient and green energy utilization require a profound understanding of interdisciplinary research spanning from the quantum level to nanoscale transport and device scenarios. In this seminar, I will present three examples of my multiscale research to address these two global issues. First, I will start off the seminar with my exploration on bridging heat conduction and thermal radiation by providing a quantum level connection in phonon and photon interaction under near-field scenario. This significant finding has led me to find unconventional radiative heat transfer phenomena which enrich the nonlinear thermal components and serve as the fundamental for thermal management applications. Second, with the newly developed modeling tool, I will demonstrate a new thermoradiative device featuring innovations in nanoscale structure and materials selection. This high-performance radiative device provides a promising solution for reutilizing the low-grade waste heat with a decent efficiency on electricity conversion. Finally, I will end my presentation with a device level work, showcasing the process of developing a colored radiative cooling paint and together with the development for the performance simulation of radiative energy converters, especially for near-field thermophotovoltaic devices. Taken together, these results illustrate multiscale research approaches to developing new technologies in addressing energy and environmental issues.
Bio: Dr. Dudong Feng is a postdoctoral research fellow affiliated with the School of Mechanical Engineering and the Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue University. He earned his bachelor's degree in Energy and Environmental System Engineering from Zhejiang University and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2021. His research interests lie at the intersection of thermal and heat transfer science, nanophotonics, and solid-state physics, with a focus on multiscale and Multiphysics modeling from atomic to systematic level in various emerging applications. He is also the recipient of the best theoretical poster award at the ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nano Technology Forum from IMECE 2019, and special recognition of Purdue Employee in 2024.
Host: Professor Sanjiv Sinha
