Near-field radiative heat transfer across a pore and its effects on thermal conductivity of mesoporous silica

Mesoporous silica substrate consists of uniformly distributed, unconnected cylindrical or spherical pores. Since the diameters of the pores are less than the wavelength, near-field radiative heat transfer across a cylindrical or spherical pore was simulated by employing the fluctuation dissipation theorem and Green function. Such factors as the diameter of the pore, and the temperature of the material were analyzed. It turned out that when the diameter is greater than 1 nm and less than 50 nm, the radiative heat flux at the mesoscale is 2–6 orders higher than the value at the macroscale, and decreases exponentially with the pore radius increasing for both cylindrical and spherical pore. The thermal conductivity of the mesoporous silica was modified with consideration of near-field radiation. It was concluded that the combined thermal conductivities of mesoporous silica which considering near-field radiation can agree with the experimental results more properly than non-considering near-field radiation. The smaller the pore diameter, the more significant the near-field radiation effect. The combined thermal conductivities of mesoporous silica decrease gradually with the pore diameter increasing, while increase smoothly with the temperature increasing.