Research report 2006 - Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart site
Nanofluidics
Authors
Rauscher, Markus; Dietrich, Siegfried
Departments
Theorie der inhomogenen kondensierten Materie (Prof. Dr. Siegfried Dietrich)
MPI für Metallforschung, Stuttgart
Summary
Even very small amounts of liquids can be described by hydrodynamic equations. However, this description breaks down if the amount of liquid becomes so small that long-ranged intermolecular interactions, thermal fluctuations, or the size of the molecules become relevant. This regime is called nanofluidics, an area of research with a broad range of potential applications, and one for which statistical physics plays a key role.