Objective
Molecular simulation techniques, integral equation theory, cluster aggregation theory, kinetic theory, and a novel thermodynamic description of adsorption equilibrium will be employed to investigate the configurational and dynamic properties of dilute binary and ternary critical fluid mixtures in micropore cavities.
With guidelines provided by the results of the molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations the objectives of the research are:
(i) the development of a fundamental cluster aggregation theory for the properties, in particular structure and solubility, of near-critical micropore fluid mixtures,
(ii) to modify an innovative theory of multicomponent adsorption for use with dilute supercritical fluid mixtures, and
(iii) to quantify the role of micropore size and shape in determining the life cycle of short-ranged solute/solute and solute/solvent molecular clusters formed via enhanced collision frequencies in critical fluid systems.
The molecular simulation work and integral equation analyses will be carried out at University College Dublin; the fundamental studies involving cluster aggregation theory will be undertaken at the Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry; supporting theoretical work on cluster theory, which will incorporate nonequilibrium studies of transport phenomena in critical micropore fluid mixtures, will be conducted at TsAHI; and the group at the University of Cambridge will undertake the modifications of a novel thermodynamic analysis of multicomponent adsorption required to correlate the theoretical results provided by simulation and cluster theory.
It is anticipated that the results of this research will (i) provide a much deeper insight into the physical characteristics of near-critical fluid mixtures which are poorly understood at this time and (ii) in the long-term provide the impetus for the development of an area of technology in which the thermodynamic and transport properties of critical fluid mixtures may be controlled by confining the fluid within molecularly engineered pore structures.
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4 Dublin
Ireland