Issue 37 of Science@ifpen - Behavior of confined fluids and media

Porous media have in common to develop a large interface that divides the space with a varying degree of complexity, potentially with hierarchical structuring. Such environments are central to IFPEN’s research on geological formations and certain industrial materials.

The thermodynamic, dynamic and rheological properties of the fluids present in the porous network are strongly influenced by the nature of interfacial interactions (wettability and adsorption) and by the degree of confinement of the pore space. This dual dependency makes it possible to cover a rich phenomenology of behaviors associated with molecular adsorption, thermodynamic phase diagrams, micro or even nanorheology of confined fluids, more or less complex (foams, emulsions, etc.), and with their transport and reactivity. For the latter field, searching optimized reaction conditions remains a real challenge.

This issue presents recent research in this rich and dynamic field, in which the dual top-down and bottom-up approach is very promising for crossing time and space scales, from macroscopic through to nanocontainment, a research area still full of surprises.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue,

Pierre Levitz,
CNRS - Sorbonne University and Expert for IFPEN's Scientific Board

  See the PDF of the letter (1.4 Mo)