Lowering liquid-solid interfacial thermal resistance with nanopatterned surfaces

Advances in nanopatterned surface fabrication have sparked an interest in studying surface topology effects on heat transfer across liquid-solid interfaces (LSIs). In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are conducted to examine the effects of surface nanopatterning on the thermal resistance across LSIs. It is shown that nanopatterning can strongly influence the wetting behavior and vibrational properties of a solid surface. The combination of these two factors has a direct effect on the degree of vibrational coupling between the adsorbed liquid and the solid surface. A strong correlation exists between this coupling and the resulting LSI thermal resistance.