Thermal metamaterial
From apm
By structuring material on the nanoscale in particular ways one can influence the flow of phonons and thermal photons and thus the materials heat conductivity properties.
Electronic properties also can play a big role in heat conduction (especially in well electrically conducting metals). They also depend on the nano-structuring of the material but in addition the elements choosen to be used in the base material can play a much bigger role. This may make electrically conductive materials harder to analyze.
- Emission of long wavelength photons can be suppressed -- converting heat to light
(TODO: find and link paper about thermal lamp packed in a metamaterial that archives efficiencies comparable to (or better than?) lamps)
