Heat flux concentration through polymeric thermal lenses

A significant contributor to energy inefficiency is the generation as well as the uneven dissipation of heat. Practical methods to adeptly channel heat flux (Q) would then have widespread applications to improved energy utilization and thermal energy management. It would be beneficial to engineer lens-like composite materials (graded in terms of length or thermal conductivity) with augmented attributes for heat control. Here, we propose and demonstrate polymeric composite based Q focusing lenses, architected through geometrical considerations. We indicate a five-fold enhancement of the Q, at the level of ∼2500 W/m2, enabled through such thermal lenses.