A Molecular Dynamics Study on the Effects of Nanostructural Clearances on Thermal Resistance at a Liquid-Solid Interface

The effects of the surface structures and the surface structural clearances at the nanometer scale on the thermal resistance at a liquid water-solid interface, as well as the dynamic behaviors of liquid molecules, were investigated directly by the classical molecular dynamics simulations. The thermal resistance between the solid wall and the liquid region was calculated by the temperature discontinuity at a liquid-solid interface and the energy flux that was added or subtracted by the Langevin method per unit area so as to maintain a constant solid wall temperature. When the potential parameter between liquid molecules and nanostructure atoms is equal to that between liquid molecules and solid wall atoms, the geometric surface area change depending on the nanostructures as well as their clearances and the dynamic behaviour change of the fluid molecules at the interface depending on the nanostructural clearances cause the thermal resistance reduction depending on the nanostructures at the liquid-solid interface. When the potential parameter between liquid molecules and nanostructure atoms is different from that between liquid molecules and solid wall atoms, the thermal resistance at the interface is dependent on the potential parameter between liquid molecules and nanostructure atoms rather than the geometric surface area in a molecular scale depending on the nanostructures as well as their clearances.