IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v210y2025ics1364032124008918.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermal rectifiers: Physical mechanisms and potential applications in buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Heyu
  • Wu, Yongjia
  • Shi, Tianhao
  • Wang, Qinggang
  • Wang, Caixia
  • Chen, Qiong
  • Ming, Tingzhen

Abstract

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings and reducing carbon dioxide emissions is an urgent priority to achieve carbon neutrality goals. Thermal rectifiers are unique asymmetric heat transfer devices that are crucial for numerous energy systems. This study conducted a detailed and comprehensive review of thermal rectifiers. The working principles, advantages, and applications of various thermal rectifiers were described. Key findings indicated that integrated thermal rectifiers not only meet the thermal management requirements of the system, but also play a crucial role in reducing energy consumption. In addition, based on the proven effectiveness of thermal rectifiers in energy systems, this study confirmed that incorporating thermal rectifiers into different building components could reduce building energy consumption and improve thermal comfort. The findings demonstrated that energy consumption could be reduced by at least 15 %, and thermal comfort could be improved by nearly 50 %. This study explored the potential of promoting high-performance thermal rectifiers for building applications, thereby providing new insights for engineering practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Heyu & Wu, Yongjia & Shi, Tianhao & Wang, Qinggang & Wang, Caixia & Chen, Qiong & Ming, Tingzhen, 2025. "Thermal rectifiers: Physical mechanisms and potential applications in buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124008918
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.115165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124008918
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115165?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haidong Wang & Shiqian Hu & Koji Takahashi & Xing Zhang & Hiroshi Takamatsu & Jie Chen, 2017. "Experimental study of thermal rectification in suspended monolayer graphene," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, August.
    2. Lee, Junghun & Kim, Jeonggook & Song, Doosam & Kim, Jonghun & Jang, Cheolyong, 2017. "Impact of external insulation and internal thermal density upon energy consumption of buildings in a temperate climate with four distinct seasons," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1081-1088.
    3. Bevilacqua, Piero, 2021. "The effectiveness of green roofs in reducing building energy consumptions across different climates. A summary of literature results," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Anna Llordés & Guillermo Garcia & Jaume Gazquez & Delia J. Milliron, 2013. "Tunable near-infrared and visible-light transmittance in nanocrystal-in-glass composites," Nature, Nature, vol. 500(7462), pages 323-326, August.
    5. Zhang, Shu & Hu, Wanyu & Li, Dong & Zhang, Chengjun & Arıcı, Müslüm & Yıldız, Çağatay & Zhang, Xin & Ma, Yuxin, 2021. "Energy efficiency optimization of PCM and aerogel-filled multiple glazing windows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    6. Saffari, Mohammad & de Gracia, Alvaro & Fernández, Cèsar & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2017. "Simulation-based optimization of PCM melting temperature to improve the energy performance in buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 420-434.
    7. Sadineni, Suresh B. & Madala, Srikanth & Boehm, Robert F., 2011. "Passive building energy savings: A review of building envelope components," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3617-3631.
    8. Silva, D.J. & Bordalo, B.D. & Pereira, A.M. & Ventura, J. & Araújo, J.P., 2012. "Solid state magnetic refrigerator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 570-574.
    9. Asegun Henry & Ravi Prasher & Arun Majumdar, 2020. "Five thermal energy grand challenges for decarbonization," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(9), pages 635-637, September.
    10. Harish, V.S.K.V. & Kumar, Arun, 2016. "A review on modeling and simulation of building energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1272-1292.
    11. Yu, Guoqing & Yang, Hongxing & Luo, Daina & Cheng, Xu & Ansah, Mark Kyeredey, 2021. "A review on developments and researches of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) windows and shading blinds," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    12. Ding, Tao & Chen, Xiaoxuan & Cao, Hanwen & He, Zhiguang & Wang, Jianmin & Li, Zhen, 2021. "Principles of loop thermosyphon and its application in data center cooling systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    13. Wu, Yongjia & Yu, Shifeng & Wang, Caixia & Chen, Qiong & Ming, Tingzhen, 2023. "The use of a thermal diode bridge for passive temperature control in the built environment during the heating seasons – An analytical study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    14. Tarantini, Mario & Loprieno, Arianna Dominici & Porta, Pier Luigi, 2011. "A life cycle approach to Green Public Procurement of building materials and elements: A case study on windows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2473-2482.
    15. Nicholas C. Davy & Melda Sezen-Edmonds & Jia Gao & Xin Lin & Amy Liu & Nan Yao & Antoine Kahn & Yueh-Lin Loo, 2017. "Author Correction: Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 829-829, October.
    16. Gao, Tao & Jelle, Bjørn Petter & Ihara, Takeshi & Gustavsen, Arild, 2014. "Insulating glazing units with silica aerogel granules: The impact of particle size," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 27-34.
    17. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Bozlar, Michael & Liu, Zhongbing & Guo, Hongshan & Meggers, Forrest, 2019. "Active building envelope systems toward renewable and sustainable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 470-491.
    18. Nicholas C. Davy & Melda Sezen-Edmonds & Jia Gao & Xin Lin & Amy Liu & Nan Yao & Antoine Kahn & Yueh-Lin Loo, 2017. "Pairing of near-ultraviolet solar cells with electrochromic windows for smart management of the solar spectrum," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 1-11, August.
    19. Chen, Xi & Yang, Hongxing & Lu, Lin, 2015. "A comprehensive review on passive design approaches in green building rating tools," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1425-1436.
    20. Lamrani, B. & Johannes, K. & Kuznik, F., 2021. "Phase change materials integrated into building walls: An updated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    21. Omrany, Hossein & Ghaffarianhoseini, Ali & Ghaffarianhoseini, Amirhosein & Raahemifar, Kaamran & Tookey, John, 2016. "Application of passive wall systems for improving the energy efficiency in buildings: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1252-1269.
    22. Fang, Xiande & Xia, Lulu, 2010. "Heating performance investigation of a bidirectional partition fluid thermal diode," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 679-684.
    23. Romanov, D. & Leiss, B., 2022. "Geothermal energy at different depths for district heating and cooling of existing and future building stock," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    24. Casini, Marco, 2018. "Active dynamic windows for buildings: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 923-934.
    25. Xiong, Kezhao & Zhou, Man & Liu, Wei & Zhang, Xiyun, 2024. "Regulating thermal rectification on random networks by depositing nanoparticles," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    26. Wang, Zhaoyang & Liang, Jiran & Lei, Dangyuan & Jiang, Cancheng & Yang, Zhe & Yang, Guixiang & Zhang, Dequan & Zhang, Lanxiang & Zhang, Chengye & Bai, Yunfei, 2024. "Temperature-adaptive smart windows with passive transmittance and radiative cooling regulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 369(C).
    27. Jin, Qian & Favoino, Fabio & Overend, Mauro, 2017. "Design and control optimisation of adaptive insulation systems for office buildings. Part 2: A parametric study for a temperate climate," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 634-649.
    28. Karanafti, Aikaterina & Theodosiou, Theodoros & Tsikaloudaki, Katerina, 2022. "Assessment of buildings’ dynamic thermal insulation technologies-A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    29. Wang, Yang & Kuckelkorn, Jens & Zhao, Fu-Yun & Spliethoff, Hartmut & Lang, Werner, 2017. "A state of art of review on interactions between energy performance and indoor environment quality in Passive House buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1303-1319.
    30. Pouranian, Fatemeh & Akbari, Habibollah & Hosseinalipour, S.M., 2021. "Performance assessment of solar chimney coupled with earth-to-air heat exchanger: A passive alternative for an indoor swimming pool ventilation in hot-arid climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    31. Klinar, K. & Kitanovski, A., 2020. "Thermal control elements for caloric energy conversion," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eldho Abraham & Vladyslav Cherpak & Bohdan Senyuk & Jan Bart Hove & Taewoo Lee & Qingkun Liu & Ivan I. Smalyukh, 2023. "Highly transparent silanized cellulose aerogels for boosting energy efficiency of glazing in buildings," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 381-396, April.
    2. Balali, Amirhossein & Yunusa-Kaltungo, Akilu & Edwards, Rodger, 2023. "A systematic review of passive energy consumption optimisation strategy selection for buildings through multiple criteria decision-making techniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    3. Zhang, Guangpeng & Wu, Huijun & Liu, Jia & Liu, Yanchen & Ding, Yujie & Huang, Huakun, 2024. "A review on switchable building envelopes for low-energy buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    4. Luo, Yongqiang & Zhang, Ling & Bozlar, Michael & Liu, Zhongbing & Guo, Hongshan & Meggers, Forrest, 2019. "Active building envelope systems toward renewable and sustainable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 470-491.
    5. Wu, Shuangdui & Zhu, Peijin & Song, Junkang & Sun, Hongli & Cheng, Zhu & Lin, Borong, 2024. "Design and application optimization of static and dynamic shading technologies in multi-climate based on parameter simulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PC).
    6. Dehwah, Ammar H.A. & Krarti, Moncef, 2021. "Energy performance of integrated adaptive envelope systems for residential buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    7. Michaux, Ghislain & Greffet, Rémy & Salagnac, Patrick & Ridoret, Jean-Baptiste, 2019. "Modelling of an airflow window and numerical investigation of its thermal performances by comparison to conventional double and triple-glazed windows," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 27-45.
    8. Shaik, Saboor & Maduru, Venkata Ramana & Kirankumar, Gorantla & Arıcı, Müslüm & Ghosh, Aritra & Kontoleon, Karolos J. & Afzal, Asif, 2022. "Space-age energy saving, carbon emission mitigation and color rendering perspective of architectural antique stained glass windows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    9. Luca Cirillo & Adriana Greco & Claudia Masselli, 2023. "A Solid-to-Solid 2D Model of a Magnetocaloric Cooler with Thermal Diodes: A Sustainable Way for Refrigerating," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, July.
    10. Jungwon Yoon & Sanghyun Bae, 2020. "Performance Evaluation and Design of Thermo-Responsive SMP Shading Prototypes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-35, May.
    11. Michalis Michael & Fabio Favoino & Qian Jin & Alessandra Luna-Navarro & Mauro Overend, 2023. "A Systematic Review and Classification of Glazing Technologies for Building Façades," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-47, July.
    12. Zhang, Lili & Hou, Yuyao & Liu, Zu’an & Du, Junfei & Xu, Long & Zhang, Guomin & Shi, Long, 2020. "Trombe wall for a residential building in Sichuan-Tibet alpine valley – A case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 31-46.
    13. Roberta Moschetti & Shabnam Homaei & Ellika Taveres-Cachat & Steinar Grynning, 2022. "Assessing Responsive Building Envelope Designs through Robustness-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Making in Zero-Emission Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    14. Alessandro Cannavale & Francesco Martellotta & Francesco Fiorito & Ubaldo Ayr, 2020. "The Challenge for Building Integration of Highly Transparent Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochromic Devices," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    15. Miroslav Čekon & Richard Slávik, 2017. "A Non-Ventilated Solar Façade Concept Based on Selective and Transparent Insulation Material Integration: An Experimental Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    16. Syrrokostas, George & Leftheriotis, George & Yannopoulos, Spyros N., 2022. "Lessons learned from 25 years of development of photoelectrochromic devices: A technical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    17. Mikhail Vasiliev & Mohammad Nur-E-Alam & Kamal Alameh, 2019. "Recent Developments in Solar Energy-Harvesting Technologies for Building Integration and Distributed Energy Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-23, March.
    18. Marchini, F. & Chiatti, C. & Fabiani, C. & Pisello, A.L., 2023. "Development of an innovative translucent–photoluminescent coating for smart windows applications: An experimental and numerical investigation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Arıcı, Müslüm & Bilgin, Feyza & Krajčík, Michal & Nižetić, Sandro & Karabay, Hasan, 2022. "Energy saving and CO2 reduction potential of external building walls containing two layers of phase change material," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    20. Kamalisarvestani, M. & Saidur, R. & Mekhilef, S. & Javadi, F.S., 2013. "Performance, materials and coating technologies of thermochromic thin films on smart windows," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 353-364.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124008918. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.