US scientists test electric field method to improve heat flow in materials

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with The Ohio State University and Amphenol Corporation, have developed a novel electric field method to significantly enhance heat flow in solid materials. By applying an electric field to a special relaxor-based ferroelectric ceramic, they were able to alter the behavior of phonons—atomic vibrations responsible for heat conduction—resulting in heat moving nearly three times more efficiently along the field direction. This improvement is due to phonons traveling farther and lasting longer when aligned with the electric field, reducing scattering and enabling smoother energy flow through the material’s crystal lattice. This breakthrough, published in PRX Energy, marks a substantial advancement over previous efforts that only achieved 5–10 percent increases in thermal conductivity. Using neutron-scattering techniques at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, the researchers directly observed changes in atomic vibrations and linked them to enhanced phonon lifetimes. The ability to control heat flow with an electric field opens new possibilities for managing thermal