▣ Title : Shedding New Light on Transport Phenomena and Thermofluidic Applications 

▣ Speaker : Prof. Jeremy Cho(University of Nevada-Las Vegas)

▣ Date & Time : 2026. 10. 22(Thu) 16:30~17:30

▣ Venue : Research Bldg I, #310

▣ Language : English

▣ Abstract :

We often view the world through fixed thermodynamic states (e.g., the glass is full versus empty, or the temperature is hot versus cold) rather than through time-dependent, dynamic behaviors (e.g., the glass is filling up, or the temperature is changing). If we take these dynamics to extremes, there are opportunities to leverage transport-limited phenomena to augment a wide diversity of existing technologies or even develop completely new ones. In this talk, I will discuss several ongoing projects. One project investigates water transport through hydrogels, a phenomenon that resembles many flows in biological tissues, biomedical devices, and even atmospheric water harvesting devices. Drawing inspiration from organisms that continuously hydrate themselves from the air, we developed a solid-liquid hybrid approach to atmospheric water harvesting in which a hydrogel "skin" facilitates rapid water capture from the air into a salty liquid desiccant. Another project involves developing a fast, convection-limited electrochemical technique to refine iron ore into pure iron for steel production; through "boundary-layer engineering," we provide a radical new approach to electrochemical reactor design. In addition, I will discuss a project on how wetting-altered phase-change heat transfer can improve thermal performance for power generation and chemical processing applications, in which we develop new diagnostic and analysis tools to reconstruct 3D droplet geometries for wetting characterization. All of these projects demonstrate how a deep, fundamental understanding of key physical phenomena can completely alter the way we solve problems, and some have already led to commercialization efforts for new technologies.