Unravelling anomalous mass and heat transport in miscible liquids

该项目将首次对溶剂诱导相分离的热力学驱动力的高度局部化的异常途径进行直接的微观观察。当可混溶流体聚集在一起时，物质的微观相互扩散是复杂的且知之甚少，但它在控制许多高价值化学品、药物和先进材料的关键质量属性中起着关键作用。系统走向最终组成和热平衡的途径通常会导致令人惊讶的事件，例如不需要的相分离或意外固体形式的沉淀。发展真正的基本理解以及区分当前文献中的理论和模型与未来科学进步中的理论和模型的核心挑战是在微观尺度上以空间和时间分辨率直接捕获和量化相关物理学。在物理科学学科之间的交叉点，包括软物质物理学，分析科学和数据科学，我们将使用新的分析方法来提供一种变革性的工具来研究和理解复杂的相分离现象。这项建议的目的是提供前所未有的洞察机制的异常质量和热传输的浓度和温度的原位映射，并立即定位和识别固相形成的非均匀瞬态区域。我们提出这些动态地图作为一个新的模型独立的数据标准存储和报告的质量和热输运测量，取代不完整的和经常误导的图片通常报告依赖于模型的宏观扩散系数和热导率。

The project will give the first ever direct microscopic view into highly localised anomalous pathways of thermodynamic driving forces for solvent-induced phase separation. The microscopic interdiffusion of species when miscible fluids are brought together is complex and poorly understood and yet it plays a key role in controlling critical quality attributes of many high value chemicals, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials. The pathways followed by systems towards their ultimate compositional and thermal equilibrium often lead to surprising events, such as unwanted phase separations or precipitation of unexpected solid forms. The central challenge for the development of genuine fundamental understanding and the discrimination between theories and models in the current literature and those coming through future scientific advances is to capture and quantify the relevant physics directly with spatial and temporal resolution at microscale.At the intersection between physical sciences disciplines, including soft matter physics, analytical science and data science, we will use novel analytical methodologies to provide a transformative tool to study and understand complex phase separation phenomena. The aim of this proposal is to provide unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of anomalous mass and heat transport by in situ mapping of concentration and temperature, and instantly localising and identifying solid phases formed in non-uniform transient regions. We propose these dynamic maps as a new model-independent data standard for storing and reporting mass and heat transport measurements, replacing the incomplete and often misleading picture provided by commonly reported model-dependent macroscopic diffusion coefficients and heat conductivities.