Programmable Electrothermal Quad‐Functional Metamaterials for Decoupled Multi‐Field Control

The extension of multifunctional metamaterials to coupled electro-thermal systems holds the potential for transformative applications in adaptive camouflage, energy transport, and microelectronics. However, strong electron-phonon interactions and the intrinsic coupling between voltage-current and temperature-heat flux fields limit existing designs to one or two functionalities. Here, we report a field-line-guided coordinate transformation strategy for constructing an electrothermal quad-functional metamaterial (ETQFM) capable of simultaneously controlling current, voltage, heat flux, and temperature fields within a single architecture. By mapping prescribed field trajectories into spatially distributed material-geometry configurations, the transformation decouples electrical and thermal responses, enabling independent realization of cloaking, concentrator, and rotation across both domains. As a proof of concept, six distinct prototypes are fabricated by 3D printing of laser-sintered metal powders and experimentally validate, each exhibiting four independent functions with high fidelity and agreement with simulations. The strategy also allows functional switching in symmetric architectures by rotating boundary conditions and remains robust against low-power thermal perturbations, establishing a generalizable framework for multi-physics field manipulation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-04-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202522718
Primary Topic
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Programmable Electrothermal Quad‐Functional Metamaterials for Decoupled Multi‐Field Control

Yinuo Zhou, Jiachang Li, Ziang Zhang, Weiye Xu et al.
Advanced Materials
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
article

Programmable Electrothermal Quad‐Functional Metamaterials for Decoupled Multi‐Field Control

Yinuo Zhou, Jiachang Li, Ziang Zhang, Weiye Xu, 童自锋, Yi Luo, Zhenghong Wang, Liqun He, Xianrong Cao, Hongda Su, Gang Zhao, Bing Zhang, Yixin Liu, Xunzhou Cheng, Ying Li, Yongle Nian
article en

Abstract

The extension of multifunctional metamaterials to coupled electro-thermal systems holds the potential for transformative applications in adaptive camouflage, energy transport, and microelectronics. However, strong electron-phonon interactions and the intrinsic coupling between voltage-current and temperature-heat flux fields limit existing designs to one or two functionalities. Here, we report a field-line-guided coordinate transformation strategy for constructing an electrothermal quad-functional metamaterial (ETQFM) capable of simultaneously controlling current, voltage, heat flux, and temperature fields within a single architecture. By mapping prescribed field trajectories into spatially distributed material-geometry configurations, the transformation decouples electrical and thermal responses, enabling independent realization of cloaking, concentrator, and rotation across both domains. As a proof of concept, six distinct prototypes are fabricated by 3D printing of laser-sintered metal powders and experimentally validate, each exhibiting four independent functions with high fidelity and agreement with simulations. The strategy also allows functional switching in symmetric architectures by rotating boundary conditions and remains robust against low-power thermal perturbations, establishing a generalizable framework for multi-physics field manipulation.

Advanced Materials
Zhejiang International Studies University (CN), University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Zhejiang Lab (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
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