Interfacial Liquid Structuring at SiC-Water Interfaces and its Effects on Heat Transfer

The development of micro and nanoscale devices spans a wide range of purposes and the presence of solid-liquid interfaces is observed in several applications, especially in the biomedical field. The interfacial solid-liquid interactions are short-ranged and dominant in a region 1.0-1.5 nm thick adjacent to the interface, where the liquid particles tend to form organized complex structures. The existence of interfacial liquid structuring has demonstrated to influence heat transfer across solid-liquid interfaces. In this investigation, silicon carbide (SiC) was considered due to its promising properties, such as high electron mobility, high saturation drift velocity, and biocompatibility. The structural properties of water films were studied numerically by means of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. It was observed that energy potential wells generated by the solid phase prompted the formation of periodic concentration regions in the first hydration layer adjacent to the solid. In high-temperature systems, the mobility of the liquid atoms increased; however, the periodic structures formed at the interface remained observable. Structural parameters, such as the structure factor and radial distribution function suggested a water interfacial structure between ice and liquid, but the vibrational behavior did not implicate the same conclusion.