Descrizione del progetto
Nuove conoscenze sul comportamento del flusso dei nanofluidi
I nanofluidi sono sospensioni colloidali di particelle solide di dimensioni nanometriche in un fluido di base. Una proprietà unica è il loro flusso modificato sulle superfici che deriva dalle forze di strutturazione interne tra le nanospecie. Questo si traduce in un migliore recupero dell’olio rispetto alle soluzioni saline standard. Finanziato dal programma azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto NANOSLIP prevede di acquisire una migliore comprensione di come i nanofluidi si comportano all’interfaccia con gli oli. In particolare, i ricercatori studieranno come i nanofluidi a film ultrasottile possono ridurre la resistenza in risposta allo scorrimento tra un liquido immiscibile e una superficie solida attraverso tecniche di sonda colloidali. Un’ulteriore comprensione del comportamento dei nanofluidi stimolerà il loro uso nel recupero dell’olio, nella lubrificazione, nella dissipazione del calore, nella bonifica del suolo, nella nanomedicina e nella stabilità colloidale.
Obiettivo
Nano-fluids (NFs) are colloidal suspensions of nano-species (NS) that are electrostatically or sterically stabilised, with aqueous NFs including nanoparticle suspensions (silica, sulfate latex), polyelectrolytes, and self-assembled structures including micelles, polymersomes and liposomes. NFs are used in many industrial/practical applications, including controlling colloidal assembly of larger nano- and micro-sized species in solution, improving heat flux in industrial processes and solar collectors, reducing friction in oils and greases, enhanced drug delivery and as MRI contrast agents. A unique property of NFs is their modified spreading/flowing behaviour on surfaces due to internal structuring forces between NS, which enables NFs to displace immiscible liquids from surfaces. This enhanced spreading/flowing behaviour has demonstrated enhanced oil recovery compared to standard brine solutions and has been rationalised as due to a reduction of friction at the NF/oil interface. Aside from the presence of a stable nano-thin NF film beneath oil during displacement being confirmed optically via interferometry, there are no experiments to date that have probed this interface directly, and thus the friction/drag reducing properties at the liquid/NF interface remain unexplored. The scientific goal of this proposed project is to gain a better understanding of liquid flow at a liquid/NF interface, in particular, how the presence of an ultrathin film of NFs – with enhanced spreading and internal properties – can reduce drag in response to shear between an immiscible liquid and a solid surface via colloidal probe atomic force microscopy. Understanding this phenomenon will fill the current knowledge gap in the fields of NFs and boundary slip and will have direct impact on current applications of NFs in oil recovery, lubrication, heat dissipation, soil remediation, nanomedicine, and colloidal stability.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
BS8 1QU Bristol
Regno Unito