Research Initiation Award - Experimental and Multiscale Simulation Study of Nanoscale Thermal Transport and Evaporation/Boiling Heat Transfer using Self-assembled Nanoemulsions

研究启动奖为历史悠久的黑人学院和大学的初级和职业生涯中期教师提供支持，这些教师正在建立新的研究计划或重新定向和重建现有的研究计划。预计该奖项有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和有效性，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究经验。授予哥伦比亚特区大学(UDC)的奖项可能在许多领域产生更广泛的影响。该项目的目标是通过精确控制界面结构、表面化学和外场的热物理性质和结构动力学的表征，以非侵入性的方式研究自组装纳米乳液中的多尺度热传输和相变的能量学。本科生将获得研究经验，高中生将参与该项目。首席研究员还在会议上提供教程，在UDC举办关于多尺度热传输的研究研讨会和研讨会，并邀请合作者给学生和教职员工演讲。这项工作有望揭示自组装纳米乳液中分子间热传输和界面热力学的基本原理。以下问题将被解决：如何将不同的表面效应，如润湿性，与沸腾换热中的粗糙度分开？包括气泡动力学在内的高度无序的核沸腾过程能被精确控制吗？微/纳米受限空间沸腾背后的机理是什么？它们是如何影响相变换热的？这些问题将通过同步高速相机和红外热像仪在定制加热器上获得相变自组装纳米乳液沸腾传热和气泡动力学的高空间和时间分辨率数据来回答。建立了胶体流体在微/纳米结构表面的多尺度、多相热传递过程的模拟模型。从该项目中获得的知识将有助于更好地了解多尺度和多相热传输，提供关键的技术和模拟解决方案，使先进的热管理系统能够进行合理设计，并促进下一代通信、医疗和能源技术的进一步发展。

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at his home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) has potential broader impact in a number of areas. The goal of the project is to investigate multiscale thermal transport and energetics of phase change inside self-assembled nanoemulsions in a non-invasive way through characterization of thermophysical properties and structural dynamics at precisely controlled interfacial structure, surface chemistry and external fields. Undergraduate students will gain research experiences and high school students are involved in the project. The principal investigator also offers tutorials at conferences, conducts a research symposium and workshop on multiscale thermal transport at UDC, and invites collaborators to give talks to students and faculty. The work is expected to reveal the fundamentals of intermolecular thermal transport and interfacial thermodynamics inside self-assembled nanoemulsions. The following questions will be addressed: How can different surface effects such as wettability be separated from roughness on boiling heat transfer? Can the highly disordered nucleate boiling process including bubble dynamics be precisely controlled? and What are the mechanisms behind boiling in micro/nanosized confined space and how do they affect phase change heat transfer? The questions will be answered by obtaining high spatial- and temporal-resolution data of boiling heat transfer and bubble dynamics of the phase changeable self-assembled nanoemulsions on a customized heater via a synchronized high speed camera and infrared thermography. A simulation model that can predict the multiscale and multiphase thermal transport processes of colloidal fluids on micro/nanostructured surfaces will be developed. The knowledge obtained from this project will contribute to a better understanding of multiscale and multiphase thermal transport, provide critical technical and simulation solutions to enable rational design of advanced thermal management systems, and promote further development of next-generation communication, medical and energy technologies.