Creating 20 nm thin patternable flat fire

A 20 nm flat fire pattern was prepared by magnetron sputtering (MTS) deposition using Pt/Al2O3 nanocatalytic structure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to characterize the microstructure of nanocatalystic film. Uniform temperature distributions across the nanocatalytic surface as well as rapid temperature response were observed using infrared thermal microscope under various methanol/air mixed flows. We observed as high as 15 degrees C over 20 nm Pt/Al2O3 layer (vertical thermal gradient > 750 degrees C/mu m or 750,000 degrees C/mm); when the vertical temperature difference is about 5 degrees C the horizontal thermal gradient is larger than 1.33 degrees C/mu m (or 1330 degrees C/mm). In addition, the nanoscale heat transfer mechanisms were explored based on the experimental data and theoretical model. The results indicate that this kind of patterned nanoscale fire has the advantages of rapid temperature response and uniform temperature distribution, as well as larger temperature gradient. The nanoscale thin catalytic fire exhibits excellent properties of ultra-low catalyst loading and high conversion efficiency which are suitable for energy conversion at nanoscale. To develop a controllable and localized ultrathin two-dimensional fire may provide a possibility of making chip-scale power MEMS in the near future.