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# Line 44 | Line 44 | The abstract version 2
44   \begin{doublespace}
45  
46   \begin{abstract}
47 < The abstract version 2
47 >
48 > We have developed a Non-Isotropic Velocity Scaling algorithm for
49 > setting up and maintaining stable thermal gradients in non-equilibrium
50 > molecular dynamics simulations. This approach effectively imposes
51 > unphysical thermal flux even between particles of different
52 > identities, conserves linear momentum and kinetic energy, and
53 > minimally perturbs the velocity profile of a system when compared with
54 > previous RNEMD methods. We have used this method to simulate thermal
55 > conductance at metal / organic solvent interfaces both with and
56 > without the presence of thiol-based capping agents.  We obtained
57 > values comparable with experimental values, and observed significant
58 > conductance enhancement with the presence of capping agents. Computed
59 > power spectra indicate the acoustic impedance mismatch between metal
60 > and liquid phase is greatly reduced by the capping agents and thus
61 > leads to higher interfacial thermal transfer efficiency.
62 >
63   \end{abstract}
64  
65   \newpage
# Line 57 | Line 72 | The intro.
72  
73   \section{Introduction}
74  
75 < The intro.
75 > Interfacial thermal conductance is extensively studied both
76 > experimentally and computationally, and systems with interfaces
77 > present are generally heterogeneous. Although interfaces are commonly
78 > barriers to heat transfer, it has been
79 > reported\cite{doi:10.1021/la904855s} that under specific circustances,
80 > e.g. with certain capping agents present on the surface, interfacial
81 > conductance can be significantly enhanced. However, heat conductance
82 > of molecular and nano-scale interfaces will be affected by the
83 > chemical details of the surface and is challenging to
84 > experimentalist. The lower thermal flux through interfaces is even
85 > more difficult to measure with EMD and forward NEMD simulation
86 > methods. Therefore, developing good simulation methods will be
87 > desirable in order to investigate thermal transport across interfaces.
88  
89 + Recently, we have developed the Non-Isotropic Velocity Scaling (NIVS)
90 + algorithm for RNEMD simulations\cite{kuang:164101}. This algorithm
91 + retains the desirable features of RNEMD (conservation of linear
92 + momentum and total energy, compatibility with periodic boundary
93 + conditions) while establishing true thermal distributions in each of
94 + the two slabs. Furthermore, it allows more effective thermal exchange
95 + between particles of different identities, and thus enables extensive
96 + study of interfacial conductance.
97 +
98   \section{Methodology}
99   \subsection{Algorithm}
100   There have been many algorithms for computing thermal conductivity
# Line 97 | Line 133 | external thermostat.
133  
134   (wondering how much detail of algorithm should be put here...)
135  
136 < \subsection{Simulation Parameters}
136 > \subsection{Force Field Parameters}
137   Our simulation systems consists of metal gold lattice slab solvated by
138   organic solvents. In order to study the role of capping agents in
139   interfacial thermal conductance, butanethiol is chosen to cover gold
# Line 127 | Line 163 | aromatic-metal interaction approximation here)
163   hautman and klein's paper here and more discussion; need to put
164   aromatic-metal interaction approximation here)
165  
166 + [TABULATED FORCE FIELD PARAMETERS NEEDED]
167 +
168   \section{Computational Details}
169 + \subsection{System Geometry}
170   Our simulation systems consists of a lattice Au slab with the (111)
171   surface perpendicular to the $z$-axis, and a solvent layer between the
172   periodic Au slabs along the $z$-axis. To set up the interfacial
# Line 141 | Line 180 | Au atoms.
180  
181   \cite{packmol}
182  
183 + \subsection{Simulation Parameters}
184 +
185 + When the interfacial conductance is {\it not} small, there are two
186 + ways to define $G$. If we assume the temperature is discretely
187 + different on two sides of the interface, $G$ can be calculated with
188 + the thermal flux applied $J$ and the temperature difference measured
189 + $\Delta T$ as:
190 + \begin{equation}
191 + G=\frac{J}{\Delta T}
192 + \label{discreteG}
193 + \end{equation}
194 + We can as well assume a continuous temperature profile along the
195 + thermal gradient axis $z$ and define $G$ as the change of bulk thermal
196 + conductivity $\lambda$ at a defined interfacial point:
197 + \begin{equation}
198 + G^\prime = \Big|\frac{\partial\lambda}{\partial z}\Big|
199 +         = \Big|\frac{\partial}{\partial z}\left(-J_z\Big/
200 +           \left(\frac{\partial T}{\partial z}\right)\right)\Big|
201 +         = J_z\Big|\frac{\partial^2 T}{\partial z^2}\Big|
202 +         \Big/\left(\frac{\partial T}{\partial z}\right)^2
203 + \label{derivativeG}
204 + \end{equation}
205 + With the temperature profile obtained from simulations, one is able to
206 + approximate the first and second derivatives of $T$ with finite
207 + difference method and thus calculate $G^\prime$.
208 +
209 + In what follows, both definitions are used for calculation and comparison.
210 +
211 + \section{Results}
212 + \subsection{Toluene Solvent}
213 +
214 + The simulations follow a protocol similar to the previous gold/water
215 + interfacial systems. The results (Table \ref{AuThiolToluene}) show a
216 + significant conductance enhancement compared to the gold/water
217 + interface without capping agent and agree with available experimental
218 + data. This indicates that the metal-metal potential, though not
219 + predicting an accurate bulk metal thermal conductivity, does not
220 + greatly interfere with the simulation of the thermal conductance
221 + behavior across a non-metal interface. The solvent model is not
222 + particularly volatile, so the simulation cell does not expand
223 + significantly under higher temperature. We did not observe a
224 + significant conductance decrease when the temperature was increased to
225 + 300K. The results show that the two definitions used for $G$ yield
226 + comparable values, though $G^\prime$ tends to be smaller.
227 +
228 + \begin{table*}
229 +  \begin{minipage}{\linewidth}
230 +    \begin{center}
231 +      \caption{Computed interfacial thermal conductivity ($G$ and
232 +        $G^\prime$) values for the Au/butanethiol/toluene interface at
233 +        different temperatures using a range of energy fluxes.}
234 +      
235 +      \begin{tabular}{cccc}
236 +        \hline\hline
237 +        $\langle T\rangle$ & $J_z$ & $G$ & $G^\prime$ \\
238 +        (K) & (GW/m$^2$) & \multicolumn{2}{c}{(MW/m$^2$/K)} \\
239 +        \hline
240 +        200 & 1.86 & 180 & 135 \\
241 +            & 2.15 & 204 & 113 \\
242 +            & 3.93 & 175 & 114 \\
243 +        300 & 1.91 & 143 & 125 \\
244 +            & 4.19 & 134 & 113 \\
245 +        \hline\hline
246 +      \end{tabular}
247 +      \label{AuThiolToluene}
248 +    \end{center}
249 +  \end{minipage}
250 + \end{table*}
251 +
252 + \subsection{Hexane Solvent}
253 +
254 + Using the united-atom model, different coverages of capping agent,
255 + temperatures of simulations and numbers of solvent molecules were all
256 + investigated and Table \ref{AuThiolHexaneUA} shows the results of
257 + these computations. The number of hexane molecules in our simulations
258 + does not affect the calculations significantly. However, a very long
259 + length scale for the thermal gradient axis ($z$) may cause excessively
260 + hot or cold temperatures in the middle of the solvent region and lead
261 + to undesired phenomena such as solvent boiling or freezing, while too
262 + few solvent molecules would change the normal behavior of the liquid
263 + phase. Our $N_{hexane}$ values were chosen to ensure that these
264 + extreme cases did not happen to our simulations.
265 +
266 + Table \ref{AuThiolHexaneUA} enables direct comparison between
267 + different coverages of capping agent, when other system parameters are
268 + held constant. With high coverage of butanethiol on the gold surface,
269 + the interfacial thermal conductance is enhanced
270 + significantly. Interestingly, a slightly lower butanethiol coverage
271 + leads to a moderately higher conductivity. This is probably due to
272 + more solvent/capping agent contact when butanethiol molecules are
273 + not densely packed, which enhances the interactions between the two
274 + phases and lowers the thermal transfer barrier of this interface.
275 + % [COMPARE TO AU/WATER IN PAPER]
276 +
277 + It is also noted that the overall simulation temperature is another
278 + factor that affects the interfacial thermal conductance. One
279 + possibility of this effect may be rooted in the decrease in density of
280 + the liquid phase. We observed that when the average temperature
281 + increases from 200K to 250K, the bulk hexane density becomes lower
282 + than experimental value, as the system is equilibrated under NPT
283 + ensemble. This leads to lower contact between solvent and capping
284 + agent, and thus lower conductivity.
285 +
286 + Conductivity values are more difficult to obtain under higher
287 + temperatures. This is because the Au surface tends to undergo
288 + reconstructions in relatively high temperatures. Surface Au atoms can
289 + migrate outward to reach higher Au-S contact; and capping agent
290 + molecules can be embedded into the surface Au layer due to the same
291 + driving force. This phenomenon agrees with experimental
292 + results\cite{doi:10.1021/j100035a033,doi:10.1021/la026493y}. A surface
293 + fully covered in capping agent is more susceptible to reconstruction,
294 + possibly because fully coverage prevents other means of capping agent
295 + relaxation, such as migration to an empty neighbor three-fold site.
296 +
297 + %MAY ADD MORE DATA TO TABLE
298 + \begin{table*}
299 +  \begin{minipage}{\linewidth}
300 +    \begin{center}
301 +      \caption{Computed interfacial thermal conductivity ($G$ and
302 +        $G^\prime$) values for the Au/butanethiol/hexane interface
303 +        with united-atom model and different capping agent coverage
304 +        and solvent molecule numbers at different temperatures using a
305 +        range of energy fluxes.}
306 +      
307 +      \begin{tabular}{cccccc}
308 +        \hline\hline
309 +        Thiol & $\langle T\rangle$ & & $J_z$ & $G$ & $G^\prime$ \\
310 +        coverage (\%) & (K) & $N_{hexane}$ & (GW/m$^2$) &
311 +        \multicolumn{2}{c}{(MW/m$^2$/K)} \\
312 +        \hline
313 +        0.0   & 200 & 200 & 0.96 & 43.3 & 42.7 \\
314 +              &     &     & 1.91 & 45.7 & 42.9 \\
315 +              &     & 166 & 0.96 & 43.1 & 53.4 \\
316 +        88.9  & 200 & 166 & 1.94 & 172  & 108  \\
317 +        100.0 & 250 & 200 & 0.96 & 81.8 & 67.0 \\
318 +              &     & 166 & 0.98 & 79.0 & 62.9 \\
319 +              &     &     & 1.44 & 76.2 & 64.8 \\
320 +              & 200 & 200 & 1.92 & 129  & 87.3 \\
321 +              &     &     & 1.93 & 131  & 77.5 \\
322 +              &     & 166 & 0.97 & 115  & 69.3 \\
323 +              &     &     & 1.94 & 125  & 87.1 \\
324 +        \hline\hline
325 +      \end{tabular}
326 +      \label{AuThiolHexaneUA}
327 +    \end{center}
328 +  \end{minipage}
329 + \end{table*}
330 +
331 + For the all-atom model, the liquid hexane phase was not stable under NPT
332 + conditions. Therefore, the simulation length scale parameters are
333 + adopted from previous equilibration results of the united-atom model
334 + at 200K. Table \ref{AuThiolHexaneAA} shows the results of these
335 + simulations. The conductivity values calculated with full capping
336 + agent coverage are substantially larger than observed in the
337 + united-atom model, and is even higher than predicted by
338 + experiments. It is possible that our parameters for metal-non-metal
339 + particle interactions lead to an overestimate of the interfacial
340 + thermal conductivity, although the active C-H vibrations in the
341 + all-atom model (which should not be appreciably populated at normal
342 + temperatures) could also account for this high conductivity. The major
343 + thermal transfer barrier of Au/butanethiol/hexane interface is between
344 + the liquid phase and the capping agent, so extra degrees of freedom
345 + such as the C-H vibrations could enhance heat exchange between these
346 + two phases and result in a much higher conductivity.
347 +
348 + \begin{table*}
349 +  \begin{minipage}{\linewidth}
350 +    \begin{center}
351 +      
352 +      \caption{Computed interfacial thermal conductivity ($G$ and
353 +        $G^\prime$) values for the Au/butanethiol/hexane interface
354 +        with all-atom model and different capping agent coverage at
355 +        200K using a range of energy fluxes.}
356 +      
357 +      \begin{tabular}{cccc}
358 +        \hline\hline
359 +        Thiol & $J_z$ & $G$ & $G^\prime$ \\
360 +        coverage (\%) & (GW/m$^2$) & \multicolumn{2}{c}{(MW/m$^2$/K)} \\
361 +        \hline
362 +        0.0   & 0.95 & 28.5 & 27.2 \\
363 +              & 1.88 & 30.3 & 28.9 \\
364 +        100.0 & 2.87 & 551  & 294  \\
365 +              & 3.81 & 494  & 193  \\
366 +        \hline\hline
367 +      \end{tabular}
368 +      \label{AuThiolHexaneAA}
369 +    \end{center}
370 +  \end{minipage}
371 + \end{table*}
372 +
373 + %subsubsection{Vibrational spectrum study on conductance mechanism}
374 + To investigate the mechanism of this interfacial thermal conductance,
375 + the vibrational spectra of various gold systems were obtained and are
376 + shown as in the upper panel of Fig. \ref{vibration}. To obtain these
377 + spectra, one first runs a simulation in the NVE ensemble and collects
378 + snapshots of configurations; these configurations are used to compute
379 + the velocity auto-correlation functions, which is used to construct a
380 + power spectrum via a Fourier transform. The gold surfaces covered by
381 + butanethiol molecules exhibit an additional peak observed at a
382 + frequency of $\sim$170cm$^{-1}$, which is attributed to the vibration
383 + of the S-Au bond. This vibration enables efficient thermal transport
384 + from surface Au atoms to the capping agents. Simultaneously, as shown
385 + in the lower panel of Fig. \ref{vibration}, the large overlap of the
386 + vibration spectra of butanethiol and hexane in the all-atom model,
387 + including the C-H vibration, also suggests high thermal exchange
388 + efficiency. The combination of these two effects produces the drastic
389 + interfacial thermal conductance enhancement in the all-atom model.
390 +
391 + \begin{figure}
392 + \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{vibration}
393 + \caption{Vibrational spectra obtained for gold in different
394 +  environments (upper panel) and for Au/thiol/hexane simulation in
395 +  all-atom model (lower panel).}
396 + \label{vibration}
397 + \end{figure}
398 + % 600dpi, letter size. too large?
399 +
400 +
401   \section{Acknowledgments}
402   Support for this project was provided by the National Science
403   Foundation under grant CHE-0848243. Computational time was provided by

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