Radiative melting of crystalline ruthenium oxide nanorods.

In this investigation, crystalline ruthenium oxide square nanorods have been observed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to melt at significantly lower temperatures than the melting temperature of bulk ruthenium oxide (1200 °C) at a measured substrate temperature of only 180 °C. The heating and subsequent melting of these nanorods occurs as a result of the combined effects of enhanced infrared (IR) absorption by the surface plasmon resonance and the inability of the nanorods to radiate at long wavelengths. This can result in the transfer of energy from a lower temperature body to a higher temperature body. This observation does not violate any thermodynamic laws as the entropy of the system is reduced with the concurrent input of energy.