Seminario
Prof. Simone Meloni
Università degli Studi di Ferrara
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Farmaceutiche ed Agrarie
24 ottobre 2025, ore 12:00, Aula 6, Edificio RM018
Facoltà di Ingegneria Civile e Industriale, Viale Castro Laurenziano 7
Title
Confined fluids: From Fundamental Insights to Technological Breakthroughs.
Abstract
When a fluid is confined within pores, channels, or interfacial domains of nanometric dimensions, its properties diverge sharply from those of the bulk phase. Confinement modifies the energy balance of the system, with interfacial forces gaining relevance with respect to cohesive ones. This reshapes phase equilibria (does the system still present the ordinary phases?), transport, and energy landscapes. Understanding these deviations is key to explaining how confined fluids can transform mechanical, thermal, and chemical energy at the nanoscale.
In this seminar, I will discuss how liquid intrusion and extrusion in nanoporous frameworks can be viewed as a confined thermodynamic cycle that can be used for energy storage, dissipation and conversion. I will discuss, for example, how fundamental understanding of this process brought us to develop oil- and spring-free car shock absorbers that convert the mechanical energy to be dissipated (usually in heat) into electric energy to recharge batteries of electric vehicles.
The discussion will then turn to supercritical water under confinement, a regime where the interplay of density fluctuations and hydrogen-bond disruption generates this peculiar state at thermodynamic conditions unattainable in the bulk. Low temperature supercritical water can be exploited to design micro- and mesoscale Rankine-type cycles capable of recovering low-grade heat using entirely aqueous working media. Another possible application is to enables mild-condition oxidation of recalcitrant pollutants, offering routes to compact, water-based treatment processes.
Finally, I will address how reversible intrusion–extrusion transitions in tailored porous systems may underpin thermal energy storage and adaptive heat management, as the confinement-induced metastability of liquids allows controllable storage and release of latent energy. An alternative application in this domain is the so-called thermochemical energy storage, where dehydration and hydration of suitable salts represent the charge/discharge phases of a thermal battery. This process, which has severe limitations due to cyclability, can be highly enhanced if carried out under confinement.
Overall, these studies reveal confinement not as a limitation but as a design parameter that connects molecular structure to macroscopic functionality. By integrating thermodynamic theory, molecular simulation, and experiment, this research outlines a coherent physical framework for transforming confined fluids into active components of emerging energy and environmental technologies.
BioSketch
Simone Meloni is a Professor at the University of Ferrara. His research bridges molecular simulation, thermodynamics, and materials science, with a focus on energy conversion, nanoconfined fluids, and reactive systems. He has made significant contributions to understanding phase behavior and transport phenomena in complex environments, including nanoporous materials. Prof. Meloni combines atomistic modeling with theoretical approaches to unravel structure–property relationships at the nanoscale, e.g., the fundamental principles of triboelectrification. He actively collaborates with experimentalists to guide the design of novel energy materials. His work has been published in leading journals and recognized with national and international prizes.