Thermal rectification properties of multiple-quantum-dot junctions

Abstract

It is illustrated that semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) embedded into an insulating matrix connected with metallic electrodes and some vacuum space can lead to significant thermal rectification effect. A multilevel Anderson model is used to investigate the thermal rectification properties of the multiple-QD junction. The charge and heat currents in the tunneling process are calculated via the Keldysh Green's function technique. We show that pronounced thermal rectification and negative differential thermal conductance (NDTC) behaviors can be observed for the multiple-QD junction with asymmetrical tunneling rates and strong interdot Coulomb interactions.