Thermalization in molecular junctions and the extent to which it mediates thermal transport through the junction are explored and illustrated with computational modeling of polyethylene glycol (PEG) oligomer junctions. We calculate rates of thermalization in the PEG oligomers from 100 K to 600 K and thermal conduction through PEG oligomer interfaces between gold and other materials, including water, motivated in part by photothermal applications of gold nanoparticles capped by PEG oligomers in aqueous and cellular environments. Variation of thermalization rates over a range of oligomer lengths and temperatures reveals striking effects of thermalization on thermal conduction through the junction. The calculated thermalization rates help clarify the scope of applicability of approaches that can be used to predict thermal conduction, e.g., where Fourier's law breaks down and where a Landauer approach is suitable. The rates and nature of vibrational energy transport computed for PEG oligomers are compared with available experimental results.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4999411 | DOI Listing |
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Maintaining human body temperature in both high and low-temperature environments is fundamental to human survival, necessitating high-performance thermal insulation materials to prevent heat exchange with the external environment. Currently, most fibrous thermal insulation materials are characterized by large weight, suboptimal thermal insulation, and inferior mechanical and waterproof performance, thereby limiting their effectiveness in providing thermal protection for the human body. In this study, lightweight, waterproof, mechanically robust, and thermal insulating polyamide-imide (PAI) grooved micro/nanofibrous aerogels were efficiently and directly assembled by electrospinning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInorg Chem
January 2025
Beijing Spacecrafts Manufacturing Factory, Beijing 100094, P. R. China.
The rapid upsurge of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has sparked profound interest in their potential as proton conductors for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, proton-conducting behaviors of hydrophobic MOFs remain poorly understood compared with their hydrophilic counterparts, largely due to the absence of a microscopic phase separation structure akin to that found in Nafion membranes. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy for regulating the structures and proton conductivities of MOFs by separately incorporating hydrophobic -C(CF)- group alongside hydrophilic -O- and -SO- groups into organic ligands as linkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Rev Lett
December 2024
Quantinuum, 303 S. Technology Court, Broomfield, Colorado 80021, USA.
Although quantum mechanics underpins the microscopic behavior of all materials, its effects are often obscured at the macroscopic level by thermal fluctuations. A notable exception is a zero-temperature phase transition, where scaling laws emerge entirely due to quantum correlations over a diverging length scale. The accurate description of such transitions is challenging for classical simulation methods of quantum systems, and is a natural application space for quantum simulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Rev Lett
December 2024
Xi'an Jiaotong University, School of Microelectronics & State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an 710049, China.
The bismuth monolayer has recently been experimentally identified as a novel platform for the investigation of two-dimensional single-element ferroelectric system. Here, we model the potential energy surface of a bismuth monolayer by employing a message-passing neural network and achieve an error smaller than 1.2 meV per atom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Institute of Plant Protection, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan 250100, China.
The broader use of botanical pesticides has been limited by shorter residual activity on plants, slower onset of action, and higher costs compared with conventional pesticides. These challenges could be overcome by the development of simple, cost-effective, and long-lasting preventive nanocomposites for botanical pesticides. In this study, we successfully developed a low-cost ethyl cellulose (EC)-based delivery system for the botanical pesticide osthole (OST), designed to provide extended preventive protection against infestations.
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