Molecular bridge enables anomalous enhancement in thermal transport across hard-soft material interfaces

Fangyuan Sun; Teng Zhang; Matthew M Jobbins; Zhi Guo; Xueqiang Zhang; Zhongli Zheng; Dawei Tang; Sylwia Ptasinska; Tengfei Luo

doi:10.1002/adma.201400954

Molecular bridge enables anomalous enhancement in thermal transport across hard-soft material interfaces

Adv Mater. 2014 Sep 17;26(35):6093-9. doi: 10.1002/adma.201400954. Epub 2014 May 20.

Authors

Fangyuan Sun¹, Teng Zhang, Matthew M Jobbins, Zhi Guo, Xueqiang Zhang, Zhongli Zheng, Dawei Tang, Sylwia Ptasinska, Tengfei Luo

Affiliation

¹ Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.

PMID: 24841621
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400954

Abstract

Conventional wisdom tells us that interfacial thermal transport is more efficient when the interface adhesion energy is enhanced. In this study, it is demonstrated that molecular bridges consisting of small molecules chemically absorbed on solid surfaces can enhance the thermal transport across hard-soft material interfaces by as much as 7-fold despite a significant decrease in the interface adhesion energy. This work provides an unconventional strategy to improve thermal transport across material interfaces.

Keywords: interface; nanocomposite; polymer; self-assembled monolayer; thermal transport.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.