Jun 18, 2026
Nanofluidics and the power of interfaces: new perspectives for energy conversion
Date: June 18, 2026 |
11:00 am –
12:00 pm
Speaker:
Cecilia Herrero, ENS Paris
Location: Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101)
Language:
English
Nanofluidics studies the behavior of fluids confined at the nanometer scale, where interfaces dominate transport and give rise to phenomena absent at larger scales. Beyond its fundamental interest, this field offers promising perspectives for applications such as water desalination and energy harvesting.
In this seminar, I will discuss how nanoscale confinement modifies fluid transport through the emergence of characteristic interfacial length scales, with a particular focus on the so-called slip length, related to liquidsolid friction. I will show how the nature of the solid surface (such as roughness or mechanical and electronic fluctuations) can strongly affect transport properties. Finally, I will present recent insights into the impact of charge fluctuations at interfaces on liquidsolid friction and transport, and how these effects can be investigated using theory and molecular dynamics simulations opening the path to experiments. These phenomena open new possibilities for coupling hydrodynamic and electrostatic effects, with potential applications to the conversion of osmotic energy into electrical power.
