Yifei Guan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was part of a research team for “Thermal-buoyancy regulation of ion transport and flow regime near electrochemical surfaces," that was published in the International Journal of Thermal Sciences. In this work, researchers investigate how temperature gradients influence electro-buoyant convection near electrochemical surfaces, where ion depletion, salinity gradients, electric fields and buoyancy interact. Using direct numerical simulations of the coupled Navier–Stokes–Poisson–Nernst–Planck system, researchers show that thermal buoyancy can strongly reorganize electroconvective flow structures and transport rates. The findings provide new physical insight into controlling transport efficiency in electrochemical and energy systems.

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