Spontaneous water adsorption-desorption oscillations in mesoporous thin films

RAÚL URTEAGA; MERCURI, MAGALÍ; GIMENEZ, ROCÍO; BELLINO, MARTIN G.; BERLI, CLAUDIO L. A.

Río de Janeiro

Workshop; VIII Workshop in Microfluidics; 2018

Understanding fluid transport and phase changes in nanopore structures is of much interest in view of the wide range of potential uses, from energy conversion to water harvesting. In this work the fluid front dynamics resulting from the coexisting infiltration, condensation, and evaporation phenomena in mesoporous films has been studied. A theoretical interpretation of the oscillatory behavior of the wetting front occurring at ambient conditions is presented. The oscillations follow spontaneous condensation-evaporation imbalances, which are closely related to the hysteretic character of the adsorption-desorption isotherms of the mesoporous material.