Interfacial Thermodynamics and Transport

拟议的研究将利用我在发展和应用热力学许多分支的深入掌握方面的国际公认的记录，提供理解、预测、设计和控制复杂的多组分、多相系统和过程所需的理论框架、方程和洞察力。本研究将涉及的多组分、多相系统（液滴、气泡、乳液、泡沫、气溶胶和固体多孔介质中的多相流体）和过程（润湿、熔化/凝固、蒸发/冷凝）几乎发生在每一个制造业、自然资源和能源行业；是新型表面、微流体和纳米技术的基础；是环境中复杂过程的核心；也是现代科学研究的焦点。虽然已有135年历史的吉布斯表面热力学是描述多组分高表面积流体的基础科学，但热力学上最正确的工作只针对相对简单的系统。拟议的研究将在三个主要目标下解决许多目前悬而未决的问题：

The proposed research will leverage my internationally recognized track record in developing and applying a deep mastery of many branches of thermodynamics to provide theoretical frameworks, equations and insight needed to understand, predict, design, and control complex multicomponent, multiphase systems and processes. Multicomponent, multiphase systems (drops, bubbles, emulsions, foams, aerosols, and multiphase fluids in solid porous media) and processes (wetting, melting/solidification, evaporation/condensation) that will be addressed by this research occur in almost every manufacturing, natural resources, and energy industry; are the basis for novel surface, microfluidic and nano-technologies; are central to complex processes in the environment; and are the focus of much of modern science. While 135-year old Gibbsian surface thermodynamics is the underlying science describing multicomponent high-surface-area fluids, the most thermodynamically correct work has been done only for relatively uncomplicated systems. The proposed research will address many currently outstanding problems under three broad objectives: