Molecular Bridge Enables Anomalous Enhancement in Thermal Transport across Hard-Soft Material Interfaces

FY Sun and T Zhang and MM Jobbins and Z Guo and XQ Zhang and ZL Zheng and DW Tang and S Ptasinska and TF Luo, ADVANCED MATERIALS, 26, 6093-+ (2014).

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400954

Conventional wisdom tells us that interfacial thermal transport is more efficient when the interface adhesion energy is enhanced. In this study, it is demonstrated that molecular bridges consisting of small molecules chemically absorbed on solid surfaces can enhance the thermal transport across hard-soft material interfaces by as much as 7-fold despite a significant decrease in the interface adhesion energy. This work provides an unconventional strategy to improve thermal transport across material interfaces.

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