Electrical double layers (EDLs) play a key role in energy storage and have been suggested to have applications in energy generation. Recently, there has been an expansion of interest in EDLs, but EDLs with ionic liquid–solvent mixtures (ILSMs) received less attention. Herein, we study the temperature dependence of EDLs with ILSMs, in particular, close to demixing. We demonstrate the emergence of a bird-shaped capacitance, in addition to the well-known camel and bell shapes, which manifests the fine interplay between the electrostatic and wetting properties of ILSMs. We find that the capacitance increases appreciably as the system approaches demixing and this increase is accompanied by a sizeable enhancement of the energy storage, which can be utilized for generating electricity from waste heat.

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We present a fabrication process of low-cost superlattices and simulations related with the heat dissipation on them. The influence of the interfacial roughness on the thermal conductivity of semiconductor/semiconductor superlattices was studied by equilibrium and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and on the Kapitza resistance of superlattice's interfaces by equilibrium molecular dynamics. The non-equilibrium method was the tool used for the prediction of the Kapitza resistance for a binary semiconductor/metal system. Physical explanations are provided for rationalizing the simulation results.PACS68.65.Cd, 66.70.Df, 81.16.-c, 65.80.-g, 31.12.xv

There is a growing interest in the properties of ionic liquids (ILs) and IL-solvent mixtures at metallic interfaces, particularly due to their applications in energy storage. The main focus so far has been on electrical double layers with ILs far from phase transitions. However, the systems in the vicinity of their phase transformations are known to exhibit some remarkable features, such as wetting transitions and capillary condensation. Herein, we develop a mean-field model suitable for the IL-solvent mixtures close to demixing, and combine it with the Carnahan-Starling (CS) and lattice-gas expressions for the excluded volume interactions. This model is then solved analytically, using perturbation expansion, and numerically. We demonstrate that, besides the well-known camel and bell-shaped capacitances, there is a bird-shaped capacitance, having three peaks as a function of voltage, which emerge due to the proximity to demixing. In addition, we find that the camel-shaped capacitance, which is a signature of dilute electrolytes, can appear at high IL densities for ionophobic electrodes. We also discuss the differences and implications arising from the CS and lattice-gas expressions in the context of our model.

We have studied the effect of nanocrystalline microstructure on the thermal conductivity of SiGe alloys using molecular dynamics simulations. Nanograins are modeled using both the coincidence site lattice and the Voronoi tessellation methods, and the thermal conductivity is computed using the Green-Kubo formalism. We analyze the dependence of the thermal conductivity with temperature, grain size L, and misorientation angle. We find a power dependence of L1/4 of the thermal conductivity with the grain size, instead of the linear dependence shown by non-alloyed nanograined systems. This dependence can be derived analytically underlines the important role that disorder scattering plays even when the grains are of the order of a few nm. This is in contrast to non-alloyed systems, where phonon transport is governed mainly by the boundary scattering. The temperature dependence is weak, in agreement with experimental measurements. The effect of angle misorientation is also small, which stresses the main role played by the disorder scattering.

Comparison of the 3 ω method and time-domain thermoreflectance for measurements of the cross-plane thermal conductivity of epitaxial semiconductors

Recent advances in studies of ionic liquids (IL) and ionic liquid–solvent mixtures are reviewed. Selected experimental, simulation, and theoretical results for electrochemical, thermodynamical, and structural properties of IL and IL-solvent mixtures are described. Special attention is paid to phenomena that are not predicted by the classical theories of the electrical double layer or disagree strongly with these theories. We focus on structural properties, especially on distribution of ions near electrodes, on electrical double layer capacitance, on effects of confinement, including decay length of a dissjoining pressure between confinig plates, and on demixing phase transition. In particular, effects of the demixing phase transition on electrochemical properties of ionic liquid–solvent mixtures for different degrees of confinement are presented.

Superlattices made by superposing dielectric and metal nanolayers are of great interest as their small size restricts the thermal energy carrier mean free path, decreasing the thermal conductivity and thereby increasing the thermoelectric figure of merit. It is, therefore, essential to predict their thermal conductivity. Potentials for Au and Si are discussed, and the potential of second nearest-neighbor modified embedded atom method (2NN MEAM) is chosen as being the best for simulating heat transfer in Si/Au systems. Full 2NN MEAM Si/Au cross-potential parameterization is developed, and the results are compared with ab initio calculations to test its ability to reproduce local density approximation (LDA) calculations. Volume-constant (NVT) molecular dynamics simulations are performed to deposit Au atoms on an Si substrate by physical vapor deposition, and the results of the intermixing zone are in good agreement with the Cahn and Hilliard theory. Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are performed for an average temperature of 300 K to determine the Kapitza conductance of Si/Au systems, and the obtained value of 158 MW/m 2 K is in good agreement with the results of Komarov et al. for Au deposited on isotopically pure Si- 28 and natural Si, with values ranging between 133 and 182 MW/m2 K.