Interface Resistance and Thermal Transport in Nano-Confined Liquids

Abstract

The performance and reliability of aforementioned devices strongly depend on the removal of heat either to the ambient or to a coolant. In such cases, phonon transport observed at the interfaces of nanoscale device components and surrounding/confined fluid, or at the interfaces of suspended nanoparticles and fluid medium in nano-fluidic coolants plays a critical role. At such interfaces, heat transfer is interrupted with a temperature jump due to the deficiency in overlap between phonon dispersions of dissimilar materials. Classical theories considering specular or diffuse phonon scattering predict the upper or lower limits of interface thermal resistance (ITR), while a detailed investigation of intermolecular interactions is needed to resolve interface phonon scattering mechanisms. © 2016 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.