Nanoconfined fluids (NCFs) are fluids confined in systems in which at least one dimension is of nanometer scale. NCFs can be confined within a wide variety of geometries, including nanoslits, nanopores, nanotubes, and many other nanospaces of higher complexity. NCFs exhibit a rich zoo of nanoscale effects, including surface effects (owing to the high surface-area-to-volume ratios typical of NCFs), finite-size effects (owing to the comparability of the fluid internal lengthscale and the confining lengthscale), and quantum-mechanical effects (owing to the comparability of the confining lengthscale and the thermal de Broglie wavelength). As a consequence of these effects, NCFs may exhibit many distinctive characteristics in their mass, momentum, and energy transport properties as compared to their unconfined (bulk) counterparts.
Research on NCFs is not only important for advancing the frontiers of theory in the physics and chemistry of confined condensed matter, but can also guide and inspire the development of novel technologies in the energy domain, with applications ranging from energy harvesting and storage to oil and gas production to membrane separation to confinement-assisted synthesis. As one of many examples, the transport properties of NCFs have critical implications for electricity generation via reverse electrodialysis. This Research Topic aims to present frontier research in experimental, computational, and theoretical approaches to the thermodynamics; mass, momentum, and energy transport; flow physics; and phase behavior of NCFs, especially in energy-related applications. It also aims to discuss research challenges in the field, worthy of the community’s broader attention.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
● Reviews on recent developments in the field of NCFs,
● Novel experimental investigations of NCFs,
● Advanced metrology with relevance to characterizing NCFs,
● Novel theoretical work on NCFs,
● Novel computational studies of NCFs, as well as novel computational methods for studying NCFs,
● Novel techniques for quantifying uncertainty in measurements of NCF properties using experiment, computation, or theory,
● The development of data-driven methods for characterizing NCFs,
● Convergent approaches to NCFs that combine multiple of the above paradigms (e.g. physics-informed machine learning of NCF properties),
● NCFs for energy applications,
● NCFs in natural and nature-inspired applications,
● Discussions of open challenges in the modeling and engineering application of NCFs.
Keywords: nanoconfined fluids, NCF, energy storage, heat transport, flow dynamics, energy applications
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
