CAREER: Fundamental Investigation of Thin-Film Evaporation Using Crystalline Porous Inverse Opals

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Dissipating extreme heat through phase change processes (e.g. evaporation) is a daunting challenge for various applications ranging from modern electronic devices to power plant cooling. For this purpose, nanoscale structures have drawn significant interest due to their large surface area and ability to deliver working fluid to evaporating surfaces. However, to date it has been challenging to identify the role of the nanostructures in phase change processes owing to their complex structures. To address this problem, this CAREER project will employ extremely regular porous media to investigate thin-film evaporation physics. The structural regularity of such porous media will allow new relationships to be developed between the form of the material and the evaporation heat transfer. The research outcomes from this project will be integrated into educational and outreach activities to promote public interest in thermal transport phenomena and train the next generation of researchers. The integrated educational and outreach plan will be addressed through new sensory learning educational tools, research and mentoring programs, and a new graduate course on nanoscale phase change heat transfer topics. The scientific objective of this CAREER project is to find new discoveries in structure-related evaporation phase change physics utilizing new classes of well-ordered porous media. The specific tasks of this project include (1) demonstrating hydrophilic inverse opals with desired transport properties; (2) studying local thin-film evaporation at the pore-level (with the aim of understanding the role of the spherical concave shape of such pores on thin-film evaporation); and (3) examining heat transfer performance in the devices. The tasks can be accomplished by studying the self-assembly and metallization of the opal template with surface engineering, multiscale computational models, and high-fidelity measurements to validate understanding of evaporation performance. The new discoveries about the transport physics through porous media will provide a big step forward for the design of next-generation thermal management devices such as microfluidic channels, flexible coolers, and heat pipes that leverage emerging porous materials. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.