Effect of Molecular Film Thickness on Thermal Conduction Across Solid-Film Interfaces

Author

Z. Liang
Hai-Lung Tsai, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow

Abstract

The Brownian motion and aggregation of particles in nanofluids often lead to the formation of solid-film-solid structures. The molecular thin film confined between nanoparticles may have non-negligible effects on thermal conduction among nanoparticles. Using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, we study thermal conduction across the Ag particle-Ar thin-film interface. If the film contains only one molecular layer, we find that the solid-film interfacial thermal resistance RSF is about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the solid-liquid (bulk) interfacial thermal resistance RSL. If there are two or more molecular layers in the film, it is shown that RSF increases rapidly toward RSL as film thickness increases. By comparing the vibrational density of states of Ag atoms and Ar molecules in the film, we demonstrate that the low thermal resistance in the monolayer film case is caused by the resonant thermal transport between Ag particles and Ar thin films. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Recommended Citation

Z. Liang and H. Tsai, "Effect of Molecular Film Thickness on Thermal Conduction Across Solid-Film Interfaces," Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, American Physical Society (APS), Jan 2011.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.061603

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2011