A major focus of research in nanotechnology is the development of novel, high throughput techniques for fabrication of arbitrarily shaped surface nanostructures of sub 100 nm to atomic scale. A related pursuit is the development of simple and efficient means for parallel manipulation and redistribution of adsorbed atoms, molecules and nanoparticles on surfaces – adparticle manipulation. These techniques will be used for the manufacture of nanoscale surface supported functional devices in nanotechnologies such as quantum computing, molecular electronics and lab-on-achip, as well as for modifying surfaces to obtain novel optical, electronic, chemical, or mechanical properties. A favourable approach to formation of surface nanostructures is self-assembly. In self-assembly, nanostructures are grown by aggregation of individual adparticles that diffuse by thermally activated processes on the surface. The passive nature of this process means it is generally not suited to formation of arbitrarily shaped structures. The self-assembly of nanostructures at arbitrary positions has been demonstrated, though these have typically required a pre-patterning treatment of the surface using sophisticated techniques such as electron beam lithography. On the other hand, a parallel adparticle manipulation technique would be suited for directing the selfassembly process to occur at arbitrary positions, without the need for pre-patterning the surface. There is at present a lack of techniques for parallel manipulation and redistribution of adparticles to arbitrary positions on the surface. This is an issue that needs to be addressed since these techniques can play an important role in nanotechnology. In this thesis, we propose such a technique – thermal tweezers. In thermal tweezers, adparticles are redistributed by localised heating of the surface. This locally enhances surface diffusion of adparticles so that they rapidly diffuse away from the heated regions. Using this technique, the redistribution of adparticles to form a desired pattern is achieved by heating the surface at specific regions. In this project, we have focussed on the holographic implementation of this approach, where the surface is heated by holographic patterns of interfering pulsed laser beams. This implementation is suitable for the formation of arbitrarily shaped structures; the only condition is that the shape can be produced by holographic means. In the simplest case, the laser pulses are linearly polarised and intersect to form an interference pattern that is a modulation of intensity along a single direction. Strong optical absorption at the intensity maxima of the interference pattern results in approximately a sinusoidal variation of the surface temperature along one direction. The main aim of this research project is to investigate the feasibility of the holographic implementation of thermal tweezers as an adparticle manipulation technique. Firstly, we investigate theoretically the surface diffusion of adparticles in the presence of sinusoidal modulation of the surface temperature. Very strong redistribution of adparticles is predicted when there is strong interaction between the adparticle and the surface, and the amplitude of the temperature modulation is ~100 K. We have proposed a thin metallic film deposited on a glass substrate heated by interfering laser beams (optical wavelengths) as a means of generating very large amplitude of surface temperature modulation. Indeed, we predict theoretically by numerical solution of the thermal conduction equation that amplitude of the temperature modulation on the metallic film can be much greater than 100 K when heated by nanosecond pulses with an energy ~1 mJ. The formation of surface nanostructures of less than 100 nm in width is predicted at optical wavelengths in this implementation of thermal tweezers. Furthermore, we propose a simple extension to this technique where spatial phase shift of the temperature modulation effectively doubles or triples the resolution. At the same time, increased resolution is predicted by reducing the wavelength of the laser pulses. In addition, we present two distinctly different, computationally efficient numerical approaches for theoretical investigation of surface diffusion of interacting adparticles – the Monte Carlo Interaction Method (MCIM) and the random potential well method (RPWM). Using each of these approaches we have investigated thermal tweezers for redistribution of both strongly and weakly interacting adparticles. We have predicted that strong interactions between adparticles can increase the effectiveness of thermal tweezers, by demonstrating practically complete adparticle redistribution into the low temperature regions of the surface. This is promising from the point of view of thermal tweezers applied to directed self-assembly of nanostructures. Finally, we present a new and more efficient numerical approach to theoretical investigation of thermal tweezers of non-interacting adparticles. In this approach, the local diffusion coefficient is determined from solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. The diffusion equation is then solved numerically using the finite volume method (FVM) to directly obtain the probability density of adparticle position. We compare predictions of this approach to those of the Ermak algorithm solution of the Langevin equation, and relatively good agreement is shown at intermediate and high friction. In the low friction regime, we predict and investigate the phenomenon of ‘optimal’ friction and describe its occurrence due to very long jumps of adparticles as they diffuse from the hot regions of the surface. Future research directions, both theoretical and experimental are also discussed.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Annelise_Fran?a_Ara?jo.pdf: 2722328 bytes, checksum: 24fe96c2c5e7a6dd79e50d8862a82e63 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) / Funda??o de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) / RESUMO Nanopart?culas bimet?licas de Fe-Ni estabilizadas com carboximetilcelulose (CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni) foram sintetizadas, caracterizadas e aplicadas na remo??o dos f?rmacos nimesulida (NMS) e ranitidina (RNTD) em ?gua. Para os ensaios em batelada em solu??es aquosas fatores que afetam a remo??o dos f?rmacos tais como a sua concentra??o e a dosagem de CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni foram investigados sistematicamente. Os resultados experimentais revelaram uma remo??o completa de NMS e de 84% de remo??o de RNTD. Como esperado para uma rea??o heterog?nea realizada em batelada, sob vigorosa agita??o, foi verificado que a taxa de remo??o aumentou com o aumento da dosagem de CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni e a concentra??o dos f?rmacos. Foi realizado um estudo do efeito da velocidade de agita??o do sistema, verificando que este ? um fator que influencia diretamente a taxa de remo??o. O estudo de remo??o na presen?a e na aus?ncia de oxig?nio dissolvido revelou que a presen?a deste exerceu uma pequena influ?ncia no processo de remo??o. Um estudo comparativo utilizando a CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni e a carboximetilcelulose (CMC) como estabilizante de nanopart?culas de ferro de val?ncia zero (CMC-nFZV) foi realizado nas mesmas propor??es, sendo verificado que os n?veis de remo??o foram superiores para o sistema CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni. A an?lise do subproduto formado da NMS mostrou que este ? menos t?xico que o composto original. O presente trabalho demonstra que o processo de tratamento redutivo alternativo fazendo uso de nanopart?culas bimet?licas contendo Fe e Ni ? muito promissor para a elimina??o de f?rmacos, como ? o caso de NMS e RNTD. / Disserta??o (Mestrado) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Qu?mica, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2016. / ABSTRACT Fe-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles stabilized with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni) were synthesized, characterized and applied to remove nimesulide drugs (NMS), and ranitidine (RNTD) drugs in water. For the test batch in aqueous solutions, factors affecting the removal of drugs such as the dosage of CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni and the concentration of NMS and RNTD were investigated systematically. The experimental results showed a complete removal of NMS and 84% for the RNTD at concentrations ranging up to 60 mg L-1 and at a dosage of CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni 0.2 and 0.4 g L-1, respectively. As expected for a heterogeneous reaction carried out in batch, under vigorous stirring, it was found that the removal rate increased with the increase of the dosage of CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni and concentration of the drugs. A study of the effect of system stirring speed was carried out by checking that this is a factor that directly influence the removal rate. The removal of the presence and in the absence of dissolved oxygen showed that the presence of the latter exerts a small influence on the removal process. A comparison of removal using CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as a stabilizer of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (CMC-nFZV) was performed in the same proportions, and found that the removal rates were higher for system CMC-bNP-Fe-Ni. The analysis of the byproduct formed from the NMS showed that it is less toxic than the parent compound. The present work demonstrates that the reductive treatment process alternative making use of bimetallic nanoparticles containing Fe and Ni is very promising for the elimination of drugs, such as NMS and RNTD.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:56:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6316.pdf: 3231017 bytes, checksum: a8fd307c739622ae82bf2f7df59ea4a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-17 / Significant investments have been made in the development of technologies that enable the drying process of natural gas. The molecular sieves are highlighted in this context, due to features such as ion exchange capacity, thermal stability and especially for its ability to selective adsorption. The nanocrystalline structure favors the water diffusion into the pores of the material, providing greater adsorption efficiency. Therefore, the zeolite nano offers attractive possibilities in the exploration of their use in catalytic and adsorption processes. In this context, the present study aimed to vary some parameters such as aging time, the Si/Al ratio and the mineralizing source in order to synthesize nanocrystalline zeolites faujasitas. Diffractogramsshow that the high alkalinity along with increased aging time were effective for the peak intensity reduction. The Scherrer equation confirms that this decrease is due to obtain nanosized crystals. It is observed by SEM that the change of these same parameters also favored particle size reduction. Thermogravimetryresults enable us to find that 30% of the sample weight loss was water, although the adsorption of the sample was not induced. This fact confirms that even at ambient temperature and pressure, the nanocrystalline faujasite is highly hydrophilic. Adsorption isotherms of synthesized samples indicated that the material has a large surface area and a pore volume which favors and benefits its application in water adsorption. The adsorption tests made in situ at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS in Portuguese), XPDanalysis (X-Ray Diffraction Powder), note that its structure remains stable after adsorption and high temperatures, presenting a promising material in drying. Data from X-ray diffraction showed that the decrease of Si/Al ratio in the reaction mixture, both by source of alumina or silica, was not effective to increase the aluminum content in the network and eventually contributed to the emergence of other competing phases with FAU zeolite, thus compromising its purity. These phases also appeared when the alkalinity is increased in the synthesis at a temperature of 100°C (crystallization), where GIS (NaP1) and CAN phaseswere favored. The crystallization temperature reduce to 70°C was enough to solve this problem and show that all samples showed a reduction in the crystallite sizes with increasing external area. 29Si NMR analysis showed that the physicochemical changes done helped to reduce the Si/Al enough to obtain faujasite X. All samples synthesized in this study, regardless of the impurities, showed a reduction in pore volume, even with a rise in external area. The adsorption tests made with CO2, CH2 and N2 have shown that the faujasite has a larger adsorption capacity than commercial zeolite NaA. / Investimentos significativos têm sido feitos para o desenvolvimento de tecnologias que viabilizem o processo de secagem do gás natural. As peneiras moleculares ganham destaque nesse contexto, devido a características como, por exemplo, sua capacidade de troca iônica, estabilidade térmica e principalmente pela sua capacidade de adsorção seletiva. A estrutura nanocristalina favorece a difusão da água nos poros do material, garantindo maior eficiência de adsorção. Logo, a zeólita nanométrica oferece possibilidades atrativas na exploração de sua utilização em processos catalíticos e de adsorção. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo variar alguns parâmetros como o tempo de envelhecimento, a razão Si/Al e a fonte mineralizante com o intuito de sintetizar zeólitas faujasitas nanocristalinas. Difratogramas mostram que a alta alcalinidade juntamente com um maior tempo de envelhecimento foi eficiente para a diminuição da intensidade dos picos. A equação de Scherrer confirma que essa diminuição é devido à obtenção de cristais nanométricos. Observa-se pelo MEV que a mudança destes mesmos parâmetros favoreceu também a redução do tamanho das partículas. Resultados de Termogravimetria nos possibilita constatar que os 30% de perda mássica da amostra foi de água, apesar da amostra não ter sido induzida a adsorção. Esse fato confirma que mesmo em temperatura e pressão ambiente, a faujasita nanocristalina é altamente hidrofílica. Isotermas de adsorção das amostras sintetizadas indicam que o material possui uma elevada área superficial e um volume poroso que beneficia e favorece sua aplicação na adsorção da água. Os testes de adsorção feitos in situ no Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron (LNLS), análise de XPD (Difratometria de Raios X em Pó), constata que sua estrutura permanece estável após adsorção e a altas temperaturas, mostrando-se um material promissor na aplicação de secagem. Dados de difratometria de raios X mostraram que a diminuição da razão Si/Al na mistura reacional, tanto por fonte de alumina ou sílica, não foi eficiente para aumentar o teor de alumínio na rede e acabou contribuindo para o aparecimento de outras fases concorrentes com a zeólita FAU, comprometendo assim sua pureza. Estas fases também apareceram quando aumento-se a alcalinidade na síntese com temperatura de 100°C (cristalinização), onde a fase GIS (NaP1) e CAN foi favorecida. A redução da temperatura de cristalinização para 70°C foi suficiente para solucionar esse problema e evidenciar que todas as amostras apresentaram uma redução dos tamanhos dos cristalitos e aumento da área externa. Análises de RMN 29Si mostraram que as mudanças físico químicas realizadas favoreceram a diminuição da razão Si/Al suficientemente para obter a faujasita X. Todas as amostras sintetizadas no presente trabalho, independente das impurezas, apresentaram uma redução do volume poroso, mesmo com um aumento da área externa. Os testes de adsorção feitos com CO2, CH4 e N2 mostraram que a faujasita possui maior capacidade de adsorção do que a zeólita NaA comercial.

abstract: Nanoscale semiconductors with their unique properties and potential applications have been a focus of extensive research in recent years. There are many ways in which semiconductors change the world with computers, cell phones, and solar panels, and nanoscale semiconductors having a promising potential to expand the efficiency, reduce the cost, and improve the flexibility and durability of their design. In this study, theoretical quantum mechanical simulations were performed on several different nanoscale semiconductor materials, including graphene/phosphorene nanoribbons and group III-V nanowires. First principles density functional theory (DFT) was used to study the electronic and structural properties of these nanomaterials in their fully relaxed and strained states. The electronic band gap, effective masses of charge carriers, electronic orbitals, and density of states were most commonly examined with strain, both from intrinsic and external sources. For example, armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNR) were found to have unprecedented band gap-strain dependence. Phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs) demonstrate a different behavior, including a chemical scissors effect, and studies revealed a strong relationship between passivation species and band gap tunability. Unlike the super mechanical flexibility of AGNRs and PNRs which can sustain incredible strain, modest yet large strain was applied to group III-V nanowires such as GaAs/InAs. The calculations showed that a direct and indirect band gap transition occurs at some critical strains and the origination of these gap transitions were explored in detail. In addition to the pure nanowires, GaAs/InAs core/shell heterostructure nanowires were also studied. Due to the lattice mismatch between GaAs and InAs, the intrinsic strain in the core/shell nanowires demonstrates an interesting behavior on tuning the electronic properties. This interesting behavior suggests a mechanical way to exert compressive strain on nanowires experimentally, and can create a finite quantum confinement effect on the core. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physics 2016

O fenômeno da capilaridade na escala macroscópica é descrito pela teoria capilar (TC) que se utiliza de superfícies contínuas para modelar as interfaces formadas entre dois meios, sendo um líquido e o outro líquido, gasoso, sólido. A TC é empregada em diversas áreas da biologia, ambientes de microgravidade e em aplicações na escala nanométrica, como no microscópio de força atômica. Essa aproximação por superfícies contínuas pode não ser adequada para sistemas na escala nanométrica, em que são reportados comportamentos anômalos como no preenchimento de líquidos em nanocanais e nanotubos de carbono, oscilações nas medidas de força de adesão capilar e grandes valores de pressões de Laplace negativas. Esses fatos motivam o estudo do fenômeno da capilaridade na escala nanométrica por meio de simulações computacionais. Aqui, utilizamos a dinâmica molecular para estudar a interface de gotas e pontes capilares constituídas de água do modelo SPC/E com volumes da ordem de 100 nanômetros cúbicos e aderidas a placas de cristobalita hidrofóbicas/hidrofílicas. Comparamos as propriedades dessas gotas e pontes capilares com as previsões da TC macroscópica, que são baseadas nos ajustes dos perfis e em cálculos analíticos. Especificamente, confrontamos os perfis das interfaces, os ângulos de contato, as forças de adesão capilar, as pressões de Laplace e o valor da tensão superficial da água. Essas análises foram divididas em três etapas. Na primeira etapa, estudamos as gotas e pontes capilares com simetrias axial e translacional, em que a altura da ponte capilar permaneceu constante. Na segunda etapa, focamos nossos estudos nas pontes capilares com simetria axial (ponte SA) e estudamos o processo de ruptura dessa. Finalmente, na terceira etapa, estudamos as flutuações, que não são previstas pela TC, em sistemas mais simples, como no caso de gotas livres, que não estão aderidas a placas, e em gotas com simetria axial. Mostramos que a TC macroscópica é capaz de explicar satisfatoriamente sistemas com volumes da ordem de 100 nanômetros cúbicos, em que submetemos nossos resultados a comparações rigorosas das soluções analíticas da TC, sendo essa capaz de prever a dependência do ângulo de contato nas alturas das rupturas das ponte SA e os volumes das gotas formadas após a ruptura. / The capillarity phenomenon at macroscopic scale are described by the capillarity theory (CT), which uses continuous surfaces to model the interfaces formed between two media, wherever one medium is liquid and the other can be liquid, gas or solid. The CT is employed in several areas ranging from biology, microgravity environments and applications on the nanoscale, such as in the atomic force microscope. However, the continuous approach may not be adequate for systems at nanoscale, where anomalous behaviors have been reported, such as the filling of liquids in nanochannels and carbon nanotubes, oscillations in measurements of capillary adhesion force and large negative values of Laplace pressures. These facts motivate the study of capillarity phenomenon at the nanometric scale by computational simulations. Here, we use the molecular dynamics to study the droplets and capillary bridges interfaces composed of SPC/E water model and volumes in the order of 100 cubic nanometer, and attached to hydrophobic/hydrophilic cristobalite walls. We have compared the droplets and capillary bridges properties with the macroscopic CT predictions, which are based on profile fitting and analytic calculations. Specifically, we have compared the interface profiles, the contact angles, the capillary adhesion forces, the Laplace pressures and the water surface tension. These analyzes were divided into three steps. In the first step, we have studied droplets and capillary bridges with axial and translational symmetries, where the capillary bridge height remained constant. In the second step, we have focused our studies on capillary bridges with axial symmetry (AS bridge), and we have studied the bridges rupture process. Finally, in the third step, we have studied the fluctuations, which are not predicted by the CT, in simpler systems, such as free droplets, which are not attached to walls, and droplets with axial symmetry. We have shown that the macroscopic CT is able to satisfactorily predict systems with volumes in the order of 100 cubic nanometer, in which we have been submitted our results to rigorous comparisons to the analytic CT solutions, which is able to predict the dependence of contact angle on the AS bridge rupture heights, and the volumes of droplets formed after rupture.

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) is a powerful technique for high spatial resolution chemical mapping and characterization of native surfaces. The use of massive cluster projectiles has been shown to extend the applicable mass range of SIMS and improve secondary ion yields 100 fold or beyond. These large projectiles however, present a challenge in terms of focusing due to the initial spatial and kinetic energy spreads inherent to their generation. In the present work, we describe the development and construction of a novel primary ion (PI) column employing a gold nanoparticle – liquid metal ion source (AuNP-LMIS) and the coupling to ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometers (e.g., Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer, FT-ICR MS) for accurate chemical characterization of complex biological surfaces. This work describes the ion dynamics, development and the experimental characterization of the AuNP-LMIS.

In this thesis, I present a microscopic theory of quantum circuits based on interacting electron spins in quantum dot molecules. We use the Linear Combination of Harmonic Orbitals-Configuration Interaction (LCHO-CI) formalism for microscopic calculations. We then derive effective Hubbard, t-J, and Heisenberg models. These models are used to predict the electronic, spin and transport properties of a triple quantum dot molecule (TQDM) as a function of topology, gate configuration, bias and magnetic field. With these theoretical tools and fully characterized TQDMs, we propose the following applications: 1. Voltage tunable qubit encoded in the chiral states of a half-filled TQDM. We show how to perform single qubit operations by pulsing voltages. We propose the "chirality-to-charge" conversion as the measurement scheme and demonstrate the robustness of the chirality-encoded qubit due to charge fluctuations. We derive an effective qubit-qubit Hamiltonian and demonstrate the two-qubit gate. This provides all the necessary operations for a quantum computer built with chirality-encoded qubits. 2. Berry's phase. We explore the prospect of geometric quantum computing with chirality-encoded qubit. We construct a Herzberg circuit in the voltage space and show the accumulation of Berry's phase. 3. Macroscopic quantum states on a semiconductor chip. We consider a linear chain of TQDMs, each with 4 electrons, obtained by nanostructuring a metallic gate in a field effect transistor. We theoretically show that the low energy spectrum of the chain maps onto that of a spin-1 chain. Hence, we show that macroscopic quantum states, protected by a Haldane gap from the continuum, emerge. In order to minimize decoherence of electron spin qubits, we consider using electron spins in the p orbitals of the valence band (valence holes) as qubits. We develop a theory of valence hole qubit within the 4-band k.p model. We show that static magnetic fields can be used to perform single qubit operations. We also show that the qubit-qubit interactions are sensitive to the geometry of a quantum dot network. For vertical qubit arrays, we predict that there exists an optimal qubit separation suitable for the voltage control of qubit-qubit interactions.

<div>The recent decades have witnessed increased efforts to push the efficiency of energy systems beyond existing limits in order to keep pace with the rising global energy demands. Such efforts involve finding bulk materials and nanostructures with desired thermal properties such as thermal conductivity (k). For example, identifying high k materials is crucial in thermal management of vertically integrated circuits (ICs) and flexible nanoelectronics, which will power the next generation personal computing devices. On the opposite end of the spectrum, designing ultra-low k materials is essential for improving thermal barrier coatings in turbines and creating high performance thermoelectric (TE) devices for waste heat harvesting. In this dissertation, we identify nanostructures with such extreme thermal transport properties and explore the underlying phonon and photon transport mechanisms. Our approach follows two main avenues for evaluating potential candidates: (a) high fidelity atomistic simulations and (b) rapid machine learning-based property prediction and design optimization. The insight gained into the governing physics enables us to theoretically predict new materials for specific applications requiring high or low k, propose accelerated design optimization pathways which can significantly reduce design time, and advance the general understanding of energy transport in semiconductors and dielectric materials.</div><div><br></div><div>Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and nanostructures have long been the best TE materials due to their low κ at room temperatures. Despite this, computational studies such as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on these important systems have been few, due to the lack of a suitable interatomic potential for Sb2Te3. We first develop interatomic potential parameters to predict thermal transport properties of bulk Sb2Te3. The parameters are fitted to a potential energy surface comprised of density functional theory (DFT) calculated lattice energies, and validated by comparing against experimental and DFT calculated lattice constants and phonon properties. We use the developed parameters in equilibrium MD simulations to calculate the thermal conductivity of bulk Sb2Te3 at different temperatures. A spectral analysis of the phonon transport is also performed, which reveals that 80% of the total cross-plane k is contributed by phonons with mean free paths (MFPs) between 3-100 nm. </div><div><br></div><div>We then use MD simulations to calculate phonon transport properties such as thermal conductance across Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 interface, which may account for the major part of the total thermal resistance in nanostructures. By comparing our MD results to an elastic scattering model, we find that inelastic phonon-phonon scattering processes at higher temperatures increases interfacial conductance by providing additional channels for energy transport. Finally, we calculate the thermal conductivities of Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices (SLs) of varying period. The results show the characteristic minimum thermal conductivity, which is attributed to the competition between incoherent and coherent phonon transport regimes. Our MD simulations are the first fully predictive studies on this important TE system and pave the way for further exploration of nanostructures such as SLs with interface diffusion and random multilayers (RMLs).</div><div><br></div><div>The MD simulations described in the previous section provide high-fidelity data at a high computational cost. As such, manual intuition-based search methods using these simulations are not feasible for searching for low-probability-of-occurrence systems with extreme thermal conductivity. In view of this, we use machine learning (ML) techniques to accelerate and efficiently perform nanostructure design optimization within such large design spaces. First, we use a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimization method to efficiently search the design space of fixed length Si/Ge random multilayers (RMLs) for the structure with lowest k, which is found to be lower than the SL k by 33%. By comparing thermal conductivity and interface resistances between optimal and sub-optimal structures, we identify non-intuitive trends in design parameters such as average period and degree of randomness of layer thicknesses. </div><div><br></div><div>While machine learning (ML) has shown increasing effectiveness in optimizing materials properties under known physics, its application in discovering new physics remains challenging due to its interpolative nature. We demonstrate a general-purpose adaptive ML-accelerated search process that can discover unexpected lattice thermal conductivity (k) enhancement in aperiodic superlattices (SLs) as compared to periodic superlattices, with implications for thermal management of multilayer-based electronic devices. We use molecular dynamics simulations for high-fidelity calculations of k, along with a convolutional neural network (CNN) which can rapidly predict k for a large number of structures. To ensure accurate prediction for the target unknown SLs, we iteratively identify aperiodic SLs with structural features leading to locally enhanced thermal transport and include them as additional training data for the CNN. The identified structures exhibit increased coherent phonon transport owing to the presence of closely spaced interfaces.</div><div><br></div><div>We also demonstrate the application of ML in optimization of photonic multilayered structures with enhanced reflectivity to radiation heat flux, which is required for applications such as high temperature thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). We first perform a systematic variation of design parameters such as total thickness and average layer thickness of CeO2-MgO multilayers, and quantify their influence on the spectral and total reflectivity. The effect of randomization of layer thicknesses is also studied, which is found to increase the reflectivity due to localization of photons in certain spatial regions of the multilayer structure. Next, we employ a GA search method which can efficiently identify RML structures with reflectivity enhancements of ~22%, 20%, 20% and 10% over that obtained in randomly generated RML structures for total thicknesses of 5,10,20 and 30 microns respectively. We also calculate the spectral reflectivity and the field intensity distribution within the optimal and sub-optimal RML structures. We find that the electric field intensity can be significantly enhanced within certain spatial regions within the GA-optimized RMLs in comparison to non-optimized and periodic structures, which implies the high degree of randomness-induced photon localization leading to enhanced reflectivity in the GA-optimized structures.</div><div><br></div><div>In summary, our work advances the design or search for materials and nanostructures with targeted thermal transport properties such as low and high thermal conductivity and high reflectivity. The new insights provided into the underlying physics will guide the design of promising nanostructures for high efficiency energy systems. </div><div><br></div>

Pillared-graphene structure (PGS) is a novel three-dimensional structure consists of parallel graphene sheets that are separated by carbon nanotube (CNT) pillars that is proposed for efficient thermal management of electronics. For microscale simulations, finite element analyses were carried out by imposing a heat flux on several PGS configurations using a Gaussian pulse. The temperature gradient and distribution in the structures was evaluated to determine the optimum design for heat transfer. The microscale simulations also included conducting a mesh-independent study to determine the optimal mesh element size and shape. For nanoscale simulations, Scienomics MAPS software (Materials And Processes Simulator) along with LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/ Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator) were used to calculate the thermal conductivity of different configurations and sizes of PGS. The first part of this research included investigating PGS when purely made of carbon atoms using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD). The second part included investigating the structure when supported by a copper foil (or substrate); mimicking production of PGS on copper. The micro- and nano-scale simulations show that PGS has a great potential to manage heat in micro and nanoelectronics. The fact that PGS is highly tunable makes it a great candidate for thermal management applications. The simulations were successfully conducted and the thermal behavior of PGS at the nanoscale was characterized while accounting for phonon scattering the graphene/CNT junction as well as when PGS is supported by a copper substrate.

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