Adverse effects of polymer coating on heat transport at solid-liquid interface

TL;DR

This study investigates how polymer coatings on gold surfaces influence heat transfer at the solid-liquid interface, revealing that increased polymer density shifts the heat resistance domain without changing total heat transfer, using molecular dynamics simulations.

Contribution

It uncovers the counterintuitive effect of polymer density on thermal transport at solid-liquid interfaces, highlighting a trade-off mechanism affecting heat flow.

Findings

Increasing polymer density displaces the heat resistance domain.

Total thermal energy released remains unchanged despite polymer density changes.

Polymer density influences the coupling and resistance at the interface.

Abstract

The ability of metallic nanoparticles to supply heat to a liquid environment under exposure to an external optical field has attracted growing interest for biomedical applications. Controlling the thermal transport properties at a solid-liquid interface then appears to be particularly relevant. In this work, we address the thermal transport between water and a gold surface coated by a polymer layer. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that increasing the polymer density displaces the domain resisting to the heat flow, while it doesn't affect the final amount of thermal energy released in the liquid. This unexpected behavior results from a trade-off established by the increasing polymer density which couples more efficiently with the solid but initiates a counterbalancing resistance with the liquid.