Hao Li¹, Cunlu Zhao², Jinhui Zhou¹, Jun Zhang³, Hui Wang¹, Yanmei Jiao^1,*, Yugang Zhao^4,5,*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.23, No.2, pp. 507-528, 2025, DOI:10.32604/fhmt.2025.063359 - 25 April 2025

Abstract Based on the rapid advancements in nanomaterials and nanotechnology, the Nanofluidic Reverse Electrodialysis (NRED) has attracted significant attention as an innovative and promising energy conversion strategy for extracting sustainable and clean energy from the salinity gradient energy. However, the scarcity of research investigating the intricate multi-factor coupling effects on the energy conversion performance, especially the trade-offs between ion selectivity and mass transfer in nanochannels, of NRED poses a great challenge to achieving breakthroughs in energy conversion processes. This numerical study innovatively investigates the multi-factor coupling effect of three critical operational factors, including the nanochannel configuration,… More >

Hongfei Ye^1,*, Chenguang Yin¹, Jian Wang¹, Yonggang Zheng¹, Hongwu Zhang¹

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Vol.27, No.1, pp. 1-1, 2023, DOI:10.32604/icces.2023.09741

Abstract The wetting behavior is ubiquitous in natural phenomenon as well as engineering application. As an intrinsic property of solid surface, the wettability with a controllable gradient has been an attractive issue with a wide application in various fields, including microfluidic devices, self-driven transport, biotechnologies, etc. Generally, it often requires elaborate design of microstructure or its response under the electrical, thermal, optical, pH stimuli, etc. However, the relevant complex underlying mechanism makes it difficult to construct quantitative relations between the wettability and the external field for the fine design. In this work, based on the bilayer… More >

JianHao Qian¹, HengAn Wu¹, FengChao Wang^1,*

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Vol.26, No.4, pp. 1-2, 2023, DOI:10.32604/icces.2023.09144

Abstract Gas transport through nanochannels is ubiquitous in nature and also plays an important role in industry. The gas flow in this regime can be described by the Knudsen theory, which assumes that molecules diffusely reflect on the confining walls [1]. However, with the emergence of low dimensional carbon-based materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, it has been evidenced that this assumption might not hold for some atomically smooth surfaces, resulting in an anomalous enhancement of gas flux [2]. Moreover, in Knudsen theory, gas molecules are usually treated as mass points and distinguished solely by… More >

Mian Wang¹, Yongbin Zhang^2,*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.17, pp. 1-5, 2021, DOI:10.5098/hmt.17.9

Abstract There is the connexon between neighboring cells in human bodies, which normally has the cylindrical channels with the diameter about 1.5nm. The analysis is here derived for the water transport through such a narrow channel based on the nanoscale flow equation by considering the dynamic, interfacial slippage and non-continuum effects of the water. The calculation shows that when the intracellular fluids of the neighboring cells are not obviously different, there is no wall slippage in the connexon channel and the water flow rate through the channel is significantly smaller than that calculated from the classical… More >

Zhipeng Tang^a, Yongbin Zhang^b,*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.15, pp. 1-6, 2020, DOI:10.5098/hmt.15.11

Abstract The mass flow rate through a micro/nano channel is calculated by a multiscale analysis when the thickness of the adsorbed layer on the channel wall is comparable to the channel height and the interfacial slippage on the adsorbed layer-wall surface interface occurs or not. The calculation is compared with that from conventional continuum flow theory. It is found that when the ratio More >

Yongbin Zhang^*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.9, pp. 1-4, 2017, DOI:10.5098/hmt.9.16

Abstract The flow factor approach model was used to study the effect of temperature on water transportation in a nano slit pore flow driven by the pressure. The influences of the temperature on the density and viscosity of water and on the water-wall interaction were considered. The results show that enhancing the temperature of water significantly improves water transportation in nanochannel, especially when the channel height is so low that the water non-continuum effect is significant. The mechanism of this temperature effect is that the temperature increase not only appreciably reduces the water viscosity but also More >