Thermal Energy Transport from Nanoparticles to Liquids
This proposal was received as an unsolicited submission to the Chemical and Transport Systems Division and was funded by the Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Program. Incorporating nanoparticles in thermal engineering is a rapidly growing technology. A typical example is a nanoparticle-engineered coolant, which exhibits a significantly higher cooling rate than traditional coolants compared with coolants without nanoparticles added, a feature crucial for thermal management of microelectronics. Nano-biotechnology is another example: heating nanoparticles bonded to biological molecules allows localized heating on the selected molecules, thereby achieving precisely-controlled biochemical reaction without affecting neighboring molecules. For these applications, it is extremely important to understand the mechanisms involved in the transport of thermal energy from the nanoparticle to the surrounding media in order to guide the design of nano-thermal systems. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is to develop a fundamental understanding of nanoscale thermal transport from single nanoparticles to surrounding liquid medium. The research plan includes the development of techniques to precisely measure the temperature distribution of the nanoparticle and its surrounding medium, and the characterization of nanoparticle-liquid structure using advanced photon sources. Advanced modeling of the physical structures of nanoparticles, nanostructures of liquid molecules close to the interface, and thermal energy transport will be developed and applied. The study will reveal how hard materials (solid particles) and soft materials (liquid molecules) are bound together to form different nano- intermediate structures, and how thermal energy is transferred through the nanostructure in hard-soft material systems. It will advance measurement techniques for thermal properties of nanomaterials, and modeling techniques for nano- thermal systems, and ultimately further our fundamental understanding of nanomaterials. The broad impact of the research spans multiple disciplines, including thermal engineering, molecular structure and transport, and bioengineering. The research will also have significant impacts on education. The education plan includes development of new courses on nanotechnology, and recruiting high-school students, undergraduate students, underrepresented students and graduate students to work on the project.
