Nanoscale Heat Transfer from Magnetic Nanoparticles and Ferritin in an Alternating Magnetic Field

Recent suggestions of nanoscale heat confinement on the surface of synthetic and biogenic magnetic nanoparticles during heating by radio frequency-alternating magnetic fields have generated intense interest because of the potential utility of this phenomenon for noninvasive control of biomolecular and cellular function. However, such confinement would represent a significant departure from the classical heat transfer theory. Here, we report an experimental investigation of nanoscale heat confinement on the surface of several types of iron oxide nanoparticles commonly used in biological research, using an all-optical method devoid of the potential artifacts present in previous studies. By simultaneously measuring the fluorescence of distinct thermochromic dyes attached to the particle surface or dissolved in the surrounding fluid during radio frequency magnetic stimulation, we found no measurable difference between the nanoparticle surface temperature and that of the surrounding fluid for three distinct nanoparticle types. Furthermore, the metalloprotein ferritin produced no temperature increase on the protein surface nor in the surrounding fluid. Experiments mimicking the designs of previous studies revealed potential sources of the artifacts. These findings inform the use of magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia in engineered cellular and molecular systems

Nanoscale Heat Transfer from Magnetic Nanoparticles and Ferritin in an Alternating Magnetic Field

Recent suggestions of nanoscale heat confinement on the surface of synthetic and biogenic magnetic nanoparticles during heating by radio frequency-alternating magnetic fields have generated intense interest because of the potential utility of this phenomenon for noninvasive control of biomolecular and cellular function. However, such confinement would represent a significant departure from the classical heat transfer theory. Here, we report an experimental investigation of nanoscale heat confinement on the surface of several types of iron oxide nanoparticles commonly used in biological research, using an all-optical method devoid of the potential artifacts present in previous studies. By simultaneously measuring the fluorescence of distinct thermochromic dyes attached to the particle surface or dissolved in the surrounding fluid during radio frequency magnetic stimulation, we found no measurable difference between the nanoparticle surface temperature and that of the surrounding fluid for three distinct nanoparticle types. Furthermore, the metalloprotein ferritin produced no temperature increase on the protein surface nor in the surrounding fluid. Experiments mimicking the designs of previous studies revealed potential sources of the artifacts. These findings inform the use of magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia in engineered cellular and molecular systems

Dislocation strain as the mechanism of phonon scattering at grain boundaries

Thermal conductivities of polycrystalline thermoelectric materials are satisfactorily calculated by replacing the commonly used Casimir model (freqeuncy-independent) with grain boundary dislocation strain model (frequency-dependent) of Klemens. It is demonstrated that the grain boundaries are better described as a collection of dislocations rather than perfectly scattering interfaces

Two-Dimensional Axisymmetric Collapse of Thermally Unstable Primordial Clouds

We have performed two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the collapse of isolated axisymmetric clouds condensing via radiative cooling in a primordial background gas. In order to study the development of the so-called ``shape-instability'', we have considered two types of axisymmetric clouds, oblate and prolate clouds of various sizes and with axial ratios of $0.5 \leq {R_{\rm c,R}} /{R_{\rm c,z}} \leq 2$. We find that the degree of oblateness or prolateness is enhanced during the initial cooling phase. But it can be reversed later, if the initial contrast in cooling times between the cloud gas and the background gas is much greater than one. In such cases an oblate cloud collapses to a structure composed of an outer thin disk and a central prolate component. A prolate cloud, on the other hand, becomes a thin cigar-shape structure with a central dense oblate component. The reversal of shape in the central part of the cooled clouds is due to supersonic motions either along the disk plane in the case of oblate clouds or along the symmetry axis in the case of prolate clouds. For a background gas of $T_h=1.7\times 10^6$K and n_h=0.1 \cm3 in a protogalactic halo environment, the mean density of the cloud gas that has cooled to $10^4$K increases to $100 n_h$ or so, in our simulations where nonequilibrium cooling is adopted and the background gas cools too. The spherical Jeans mass of such gas is estimated to be about M_J \sim 5\times10^{7}\Msun. In order for cloud mass to exceed the Jeans mass and at the same time in order for the thermal instability to operate, the initial cloud size should be around $1 - 1.5 l_{\rm cool}$ where $l_{\rm cool}$ is the cooling length.Comment: 31 pages including 12 figures (reduced resolution), to appear in The Astrophysical Journal (v584 n2 ApJ February 20, 2003 issue). Pdf with full resolution figures can be downloaded from ftp://canopus.chungnam.ac.kr/ryu/ryu.pd

Observation of First-Order Metal-Insulator Transition without Structural Phase Transition in VO_2

An abrupt first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT) without structural phase transition is first observed by current-voltage measurements and micro-Raman scattering experiments, when a DC electric field is applied to a Mott insulator VO_2 based two-terminal device. An abrupt current jump is measured at a critical electric field. The Raman-shift frequency and the bandwidth of the most predominant Raman-active A_g mode, excited by the electric field, do not change through the abrupt MIT, while, they, excited by temperature, pronouncedly soften and damp (structural MIT), respectively. This structural MIT is found to occur secondarily.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

High thermoelectric performance in (Bi_(0.25)Sb_(0.75)_2 Te_3 due to band convergence and improved by carrier concentration control

Bi_2Te_3 has been recognized as an important cooling material for thermoelectric applications. Yet its thermoelectric performance could still be improved. Here we propose a band engineering strategy by optimizing the converging valence bands of Bi_2Te_3 and Sb_2Te_3 in the (Bi_(1−x)Sb_x)_2Te_3 system when x = 0.75. Band convergence successfully explains the sharp increase in density-of-states effective mass yet relatively constant mobility and optical band gap measurement. This band convergence picture guides the carrier concentration tuning for optimum thermoelectric performance. To synthesize homogeneous textured and optimally doped (Bi0.25Sb0.75)2Te3, excess Te was chosen as the dopant. Uniform control of the optimized thermoelectric composition was achieved by zone-melting which utilizes separate solidus and liquidus compositions to obtain zT = 1.05 (at 300 K) without nanostructuring