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Related Concept Videos

Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I01:14

Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I

Just as interesting as the effects of heat transfer on a system are the methods by which the heat transfer occur. Whenever there is a temperature difference, heat transfer occurs. It may occur rapidly, such as through a cooking pan, or slowly, such as through the walls of a picnic ice box. So many processes involve heat transfer that it is hard to imagine a situation where no heat transfer occurs. Yet, every heat transfer takes place by only three methods: conduction, convection, and radiation.
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II01:20

Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II

In convection, thermal energy is carried by the large-scale flow of matter. Ocean currents and large-scale atmospheric circulation, which result from the buoyancy of warm air and water, transfer hot air from the tropics toward the poles and cold air from the poles toward the tropics. The Earth’s rotation interacts with those flows, causing the observed eastward flow of air in the temperate zones. Convection dominates heat transfer by air, and the amount of available space for the airflow...
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer01:14

Mechanisms of Heat Transfer

Heat transfer between the human body and its environment occurs through four main mechanisms: conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation.
Conduction, accounting for approximately 3% of body heat loss at rest, is the process of exchanging heat between molecules of two materials in direct contact. This can result in both heat loss and gain. For instance, when the body is submerged in water, which conducts heat 20 times more effectively than air, it can either lose or gain significant heat.
Mechanism of heat transfer01:19

Mechanism of heat transfer

Understanding heat transfer mechanisms is essential for understanding how our bodies maintain balance in different environmental conditions. When the environment is thermoneutral, the body is in a state of balance, neither using nor releasing energy to maintain its core temperature. However, when the environment is not thermoneutral, the body employs four heat transfer mechanisms to maintain homeostasis: conduction, convection, evaporation, and radiation. These mechanisms facilitate heat...
Metal-Semiconductor Junctions01:24

Metal-Semiconductor Junctions

The contact of metal and semiconductor can lead to the formation of a junction with either Schottky or Ohmic behavior.
Schottky Barriers
Schottky barriers arise when a metal with a work function (Φm) contacts a semiconductor with a different work function (Φs). Initially, electrons transfer until the Fermi levels of the metal and semiconductor align at equilibrium. For instance, if Φm > Φs, the semiconductor Fermi level is higher than the metal's before contact. The semiconductor's...
Conduction, Convection and Radiation: Problem Solving01:20

Conduction, Convection and Radiation: Problem Solving

There are three methods by which heat transfer can take place: conduction, convection, and radiation. Each method has unique and interesting characteristics, but all three have two things in common: they transfer heat solely because of a temperature difference; and the greater the temperature difference, the faster the heat transfer.
In order to solve a problem related to heat transfer, first of all, the situation needs to be examined to determine the type of heat transfer involved. This could...

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Multifunctional Hybrid Fe2O3-Au Nanoparticles for Efficient Plasmonic Heating
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Multifunctional Hybrid Fe2O3-Au Nanoparticles for Efficient Plasmonic Heating

Published on: February 20, 2016

Heat conduction across molecular junctions between nanoparticles.

Samy Merabia1, Jean-Louis Barrat, Laurent J Lewis

  • 1LPMCN, Université de Lyon, UMR 5586 Université Lyon 1 et CNRS, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France. samy.merabia@univ-lyon1.fr

The Journal of Chemical Physics
|June 28, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Heat conduction across molecular junctions is length independent in vacuum but shows a crossover length in liquid environments. Vibrational spectrum overlap significantly impacts thermal conductance in vacuum.

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Area of Science:

  • Nanoscale heat transfer
  • Molecular dynamics simulations
  • Condensed matter physics

Background:

  • Understanding heat conduction at the nanoscale is crucial for thermal management in advanced materials.
  • Molecular junctions present unique thermal transport properties distinct from bulk materials.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate heat conduction across molecular junctions connecting nanoparticles.
  • To analyze the influence of vacuum and liquid environments on thermal conductance.
  • To determine the factors affecting thermal transport at the molecular level.

Main Methods:

  • Classical molecular dynamics simulations were employed.
  • Simulations were conducted for junctions in both vacuum and liquid environments.
  • Analysis focused on vibrational spectrum overlap and density of states.

Main Results:

  • In vacuum, length-independent thermal conductance was observed, sensitive to spectral overlap between the junction and nanoparticle thermal contacts.
  • In a liquid environment, thermal conductance remained constant up to a specific crossover length.
  • Beyond the crossover length in liquid, standard Fourier heat conduction behavior was recovered.

Conclusions:

  • The vibrational properties of the junction and thermal contacts critically influence nanoscale heat transfer in vacuum.
  • Liquid environments introduce a transition from ballistic to diffusive heat transport in molecular junctions.
  • These findings provide insights into designing materials with tailored thermal properties for nanoelectronic devices.