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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 12, 2025

Fabricating Nanogaps by Nanoskiving

Fabricating Nanogaps by Nanoskiving

Published on: May 13, 2013

Heat transfer in metallic nanometre-sized gaps.

Rubén López-Nebreda¹, Oscar Mateos-Lopez^2,3, Pablo Martinez Martinez^2,3

¹Departmento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Nature Communications

|August 9, 2025

Summary

Researchers resolved a controversy in nanoscale heat transfer by identifying water menisci as the cause of anomalous thermal signals in gold atomic contacts, not new physics.

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Published on: December 5, 2015

Area of Science:

Physics
Materials Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Heat transfer across nanoscale gaps is crucial for advanced technologies.
Conflicting experimental results have raised questions about fundamental heat exchange mechanisms at the nanoscale.

Purpose of the Study:

To resolve discrepancies in experimental findings regarding heat transfer in nanoscale gaps.
To investigate the thermal conductance of gold atomic-sized contacts.

Main Methods:

Utilized a custom scanning tunneling microscope with a novel thermal probe.
Measured both thermal and electrical conductance across varying gap sizes.
Employed non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations.

Main Results:

Observed anomalous thermal signals in nanometre-sized gaps that standard models could not explain.
Identified thermal conduction through water menisci as the source of these signals.
Demonstrated that water menisci form under typical experimental conditions.

Conclusions:

The study resolves the puzzle of anomalous heat transfer in nanoscale gaps.
Water menisci play a significant role in heat conduction in atomic and molecular junctions.
Opens new pathways for studying heat transport at the atomic and molecular levels.