AVS 51st International Symposium
    Materials Solutions for Cooling Technology Topical Conference Monday Sessions
       Session CT+TF-MoM

Invited Paper CT+TF-MoM10
Transport and Mechanics in Hard and Soft Nanomaterials

Monday, November 15, 2004, 11:20 am, Room 303B

Session: Thermal Transport in Thin Films and Nanostructured Materials
Presenter: A. Majumdar, University of California, Berkeley
Correspondent: Click to Email
Hard and soft materials are characterized by the ratio of their respective binding energies (Eb) with respect to thermal fluctuations that are characterized by kT. Mechanics and dynamics of hard materials (Eb >> kT) are generally unaffected by kT, except when undergoing irreversible processes such as transport phenomena or inelastic deformations. On the other hand, fluctuations dominate the behavior of soft materials (Eb ~ kT) such as liquids and biomolecules, where entropic forces are critical in their mechanics. As part of this lecture, I will focus on two topics, both of which relate to the interplay between entropic and elastic forces: (i) Transport of heat and fluid in solid nanostructures such as nanotubes and nanowires. I will share some of our recent discoveries of how heat and charge transport in such nanostructures can be manipulated by size confinement and interface engineering; (ii) Actuation of mechanical devices such as cantilever beams using reactions of biomolecules (eg. DNA hybridization, antigen-antibody binding). I will also discuss the implications of our work on energy conversion and biomedical technologies.