The Flux Lab focuses on the fundamental understanding and engineering of transport phenomena, interfacial phenomena, and micro/nano engineering to optimize system-level performance in various applications. We investigate these disciplines at multiple scales, from fundamental physics to real-world engineering solutions, with the goal of enhancing energy efficiency, improving thermal management of advanced electronics, and enabling advanced technologies for space exploration.

Transport phenomena govern the movement of energy, mass, and momentum in physical systems. We investigate the fundamental mechanisms of theses processes to optimize heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and mass transport for energy solutions and advanced cooling strategies.

• Heat Transfer: Understanding heat transfer, particularly phase-change heat transfer, to improve thermal management in advanced electronics, i.e., highly integrated circuits or quantum computers, energy storage devices, and extended space exploration.

• Mass Transfer: Studying diffusion and convection-driven transport of mass or ions and gas-liquid interactions for applications such as electrocatalytic fuel generation and battery thermal management.

• Momentum Transport: Investigating fluid motion at different scales, particularly in the regime governed by surface tension, including micro/nanofluidics and drag reduction.

Interfacial phenomena control how liquids, gases, and solids interact at interfaces. our research focuses on wetting and wicking dynamics to tailor energy and fluid transport to specific applications such as phase-change heat transfer (boiling, condensation, and evaporation), microfluidics, or heat pipes.

• Wetting: Engineering surface wettability, i.e., contact angle, using chemical coatings and micro/nanostructured materials.

• Wicking: Investigating capillary-driven porous media transport and its optimization 

Micro/nano engineering enables the design and fabrication of materials and structures for optimal device performance. We apply nanomaterial synthesis, microfabrication techniques, and emerging manufacturing methods to enhance device- and system-level performance. 

• Material Synthesis: Synthesizing nanomaterials direclty on a target surface is an efficient bottom-up approach to tailr surface characteristics. Examples include CuO nanostructures and ZnO pillars. 

• Micro/Nano Fabrication: Harnessing advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processes, consisting of lithography, thin-film deposition, and etching techniques, we create functional surface structures and devices.

• Micro/nano Devices: Engineering miniaturized systems for localized thermal management, sensors, and actuators.

With fundamental transport/interfacial phenomena principles and micro/nano technologies, we aim to develop or advance engineering applications, including power generation, energy storage, thermal management, and space exploration technologies.