The air-water interface in variably saturated porous media is recognized to influence interfacial retention of organic and inorganic contaminants, and mediate various mass-transfer processes. The formation and presence of water films commonly solvating the surfaces of soil/sediment grains in unsaturated systems, as well as their impact on flow and retention processes have been of sustained interest. X-ray microtomography was used to measure air-water interfacial area at multiple wetting-phase saturations for natural porous media. First, a study was conducted to evaluate image-processing procedures suitable for characterizing fluids and associated interfaces in natural porous media. A simple method was developed for the analysis of all phases in the system, using global threshold for phase identification and combination of binary files (M1). This method was then compared to a simultaneous multiphase segmentation approach using locally adaptive threshold selection (M2). Both methods were used to process data sets comprised of multiple drainage steps for water-saturated packed columns imaged via synchrotron x-ray microtomography. The results of both methods were evaluated based on comparison of values determined for porosity and specific solid surface area to independently measured porosity and specific solid surface areas. The results show both methods are suitable for determination of total air-water interfacial area, which requires characterization of only the non-wetting phase. Conversely, determination of capillary interfacial area requires characterization of all phases present and thus, is more sensitive to the challenges associated with image processing. The simultaneous multiple-phase segmentation (M2) method provides an integrated and consistent analysis of the phases, and anticipated to improve water-phase detection. Using the advanced segmentation approach, the air-water interfacial area is presented as a result of direct measurement of contact areas between the two fluids. This is in contrast to previously reported data, which were derived indirectly from calculations based on individually measured phase surface areas and conceptualizations of fluid distributions. The effects of these assumptions on the capillary interfacial behavior are evaluated. Results from this study confirmed the initial hypothesis that the behavior of fluid surface areas will affect the theoretical shape of the capillary curve. The results support the understanding of the capillary interfacial area behavior in response to changes in the configuration of fluid surface areas during a drainage cycle. Furthermore, results for the measured air-water interface allows for further identification of fluid domains, such as the relationship between film interfacial area, capillary domains (menisci), and the total-measurable interfacial area. Experiments were also conducted using aqueous-phase interfacial partitioning tracer tests for comparison. Results support the hypothesis that different methods provide characterization of different interfacial domains. Overall, this study provides an imaging-based approach for evaluation of water configuration, and presents a measurement-based framework for further understanding of the role of fluid-fluid interfaces in natural porous media.

Proper disposal of industrial brine has been a critical environmental challenge. Driven by the even-tightening environment protection regulations, the Zero-Liquid-Discharge (ZLD) has gradually become mandatory option for brine disposal, but its application is limited by the intensive energy consumption. The recent development of solar crystallizer provides a new strategy to achieve ZLD brine disposal. However, the research on solar crystallizer, employing photothermal material to convert solar energy to heat for interfacial brine evaporation and crystallization, is still at the early stage. This dissertation thoroughly investigated the solar crystallizer-based ZLD technology in a broad scientific and application context. The scaling formation while treating real brine, which has been the major barrier to the application of solar crystallizer, was confirmed first with a solar crystallizer device. With a rational designed anti-scaling mechanism, the scaling-free crystallization behavior and stable high water evaporation rate of 2.42 kg m-2 h-1 was achieved when treating real seawater brine. After verifying the feasibility of solar crystallizer towards real brine treatment, its performance was further improved by integrating convective airflow, which provided considerable environmental energy for water evaporation. Both experiment results and COMSOL simulation results confirmed that the maximum environmental energy harvesting can be achieved with the proper size of solar crystallizer. At last, this dissertation pioneered a novel concept of integrating adsorption process into solar crystallizer for simultaneously ZLD brine treatment and potassium extraction. Owing to the special ion concentration behavior of solar crystallizer, the adsorption capacity and selectivity coefficient of absorbent was enhanced by 19.5% and 48.8%, respectively, comparing with traditional bulk adsorption. This dissertation potentially unlocks a new generation of ZLD technology with low carbon footprint and source recovery. More research efforts will be inspired on its applications in real scenarios.

Over the past two decades, vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) has been applied as a versatile technique for probing the structure and dynamics of molecules at surfaces and interfaces. The excellent surface specificity of the SFG allows for probing different kinds of liquid interfaces with no or negligible contribution from adjacent and much deeper bulk phase. VSFG spectroscopy has provided evidence that the structure of the water at interfaces is different from the bulk. With the ultrafast pulses, VSFG can also be used as a probe of ultrafast vibrational dynamics at interfaces. However, apart from a few pioneering studies, the extension of VSFG into time domain has not been explored extensively. Here VSFG is used as a probe of ultrafast vibrational dynamics of water at silica interfaces. Silica is an excellent model system for the solid phase where one can systematically vary the surface charge via bulk pH adjustment. The extension of the surface electric field, the interfacial thickness and surface accumulation of ions at a charged silica surface were studied using IR pump-VSFG probe spectroscopy. A vibrational lifetime (T1) of about 250 fs, similar to bulk H2O, was observed for the O-H stretch of H2O/silica interface when the silica surface is negatively charged. At the neutral surface, where the thickness of interfacial water is smaller than at the charged surface, the vibrational lifetime of O-H stretch becomes more than two times longer (T1~ 600 fs) due to the decreased number of neighboring water molecules, probed by SFG. The fast T1 at negatively charged surface begins to slow down by screening of the penetration of surface electric field via adding salt which suggests the primary reason for similar vibrational dynamics of water at charged interface with bulk water is the penetration of electric field. By decoupling of OH of HDO in D2O, a frequency dependent vibrational lifetime is observed with faster T1 at the red compared to the blue side of the hydrogen bond spectral region. This correlates with the redshift of the SFG spectra with increasing charged surface and is consistent with a theoretical model that relates the vibrational lifetime to the strength of the hydrogen bond network. / Chemistry

Understanding the structure and dynamics of molecularly thin films or the state of water confined to nanoscale dimensions is an active field of research and has wide applications in areas ranging from biology to geology. The issues concern fundamental aspects related to the manner in which a substrate influences the organization of water, origin of forces present when water is confined to nanoscale dimensions, and the influence on the structure and dynamics of water adjacent to a surface. The focus of this thesis lies in examining the thermodynamics and transport properties of interfacial and confined water. As a prelude to studying the structure of water confined between two mica surfaces, we first investigated the structuring of water adjacent to a single mica surface using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. The adsorption isotherm reveals three distinct stages as the relative vapor pressure in increased. The derived film thickness, isotherm shape, and heats of adsorption are in excellent agreement with recent experimental data. Our study does not support the 2D ice hypothesis and indicates that beyond the first adsorbed layer water is liquid-like. The characteristics of water confined to nanometer dimensions between two hydrophilic surfaces are investigated to assess the influence of chemical functionality of the hydrophilic surface on the structure of confined water. Our study shows that hydration of potassium ions on the mica surface has a strong influence on the water structure and solvation force response of confined water. In contrast to the disrupted hydrogen bond network observed for water confined between mica surfaces, water between silica surfaces is able to retain its hydrogen bond network displaying bulk-like structural features down to surface separations as small as 0.45 nm. An oscillatory solvation force response is observed only for water confined between silica surfaces. We evaluate and contrast the water density, dipole moment distributions, pair correlation functions and the solvation forces as a function of the surface separation. Recent experimental studies have shown that even for subnanometer confinement, the shear viscosity of water between mica surfaces is only three times larger than the free water viscosity. The dynamics of confined water between mica surfaces is evaluated using molecular dynamics simulations. Our analysis shows that the residence time for water in the contact layer is about two orders of magnitude larger than water in the central bulk-like regions between the surfaces. The K+ ions have a strong influence on the dynamics of confined water, leading to a decoupling in the translation and orientational motions. Our analysis also shows the presence of orientational jump dynamics in the contact layer near the mica surface. We also investigate the influence of confinement on the hydration characteristics of NaCl solutions both as a function of the salt concentration and the surface separation, H between graphite surfaces. A hydration limit is defined as the concentration at which a rapid drop in the hydration number is observed with increasing salt concentration. Despite a high degree of confinement, ions are able to form a quasi two-dimensional hydration shell between the two surfaces. The hydration number, reduces to about 4.15 at a pore width of H =8 A, when compared with the bulk hydration number of 6.25. In many practical situations, surfaces that are separated by an intervening fluid can be dissimilar giving rise to the so called Janus interface. In order to probe the fluid structure in such systems, we studied non-polar fluids confined between two asymmetric surfaces. By varying the degree of asymmetry between the two surfaces a wide variety of adsorption situations are examined using GCMC simulations and a mean field lattice model. The degree of asymmetry is found to influence the presence of frozen phases and can also support co-existing liquid and solid phases.

Computer-aided drug discovery involves the application of computer science and programming to solve chemical and biological problems. Specifically, the QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships) methodology is used in drug development to provide a rational basis of drug synthesis, rather than a trial and error approach. Molecular dynamics (MD) studies focus on investigating the details of drug-target interactions to elucidate various biophysical characteristics of interest. Infectious diseases like Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (TBR) and P. falciparum (malaria) are responsible for millions of deaths annually around the globe. This necessitates an immediate need to design and develop new drugs that efficiently battle these diseases. As a part of the initiatives to improve drug efficacy QSAR studies accomplished the formulation of chemical hypothesis to assist development of drugs against TBR. Results show that CoMSIA 3D QSAR models, with a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.95, predict a compound with meta nitrogens on the phenyl groups, in the combinatorial space based on a biphenyl-furan diamidine design template, to have higher activity against TBR relative to the existing compound set within the same space. Molecular dynamics study, conducted on a linear benzimidazole-biphenyl diamidine that has non-classical structural similarity to earlier known paradigms of minor groove binders, gave insights into the unique water mediated interactions between the DNA minor groove and this ligand. Earlier experiments suggested the interfacial water molecules near the terminal ends of the ligand to be responsible for the exceptianlly high binding constant of the ligand. Results from MD studies show two other modes of binding. The first conformation has a single water molecule with a residency time of 6ns (average) that is closer to the central part of the ligand, which stabilizes the structure in addition to the terminal water. The second conformation that was detected had the ligand completely away from the floor of the minor groove, and hydrogen bonded to the sugar oxygens.

Neste trabalho, sondas solvatocrômicas foram empregadas no estudo da solvatação em solventes puros e misturas aquosas de solventes polares práticos e apráticos. A partir da polaridade de misturas aquosas de solventes orgânicos, determinou-se a concentração de água interfacial de micelas catiônicas. Finalmente, avaliou-se o efeito da polaridade e força iônica interfaciais de micelas catiônicas sobre a velocidade da reação entre p-nitrofenildifenilfosfato e o íon fluoreto. No estudo de misturas aquosas de solventes orgânicos, um novo modelo de solvatação preferencial foi elaborado, segundo o qual três espécies presentes em solução competem pela camada de solvatação da sonda: água, solvente orgânico e o \"complexo\" formado por uma molécula de água e outra de solvente orgânico (Solv-Água). Através deste modelo, analisou-se o efeito da temperatura e das propriedades das sondas e dos solventes orgânicos sobre o fenômeno da solvatação. Em soluções aquosas de micelas catiônicas, observou-se uma desidratação da interface em função do aumento do grupo hidrofílico do tensotativo e da mudança de geometria micelar de esférica para cilíndrica. Verificou-se que a velocidade da reação entre pnitrofenildifenilfosfato e fluoreto é pouco afetada pela interface micelar e pode ser reproduzida, na ausência de micelas, em soluções com mesma concentração de água e força iônica que as micelas. / Solvatochromic probes have been employed to study the polarity of pure solvents and binary mixtures of water with protic and aprotic polar solvents. From polarity data of aqueous organic mixtures, the concentration of interfacial water of cationic micelles has been determined. In aqueous solutions of cationic micelles, the dehydration of interfacial region has been observed as a result of increasing the volume of the surfactant head group and changing micellar geometry from spherical to cylindrical. Finally, the effect of interfacial polarity and ionic force on the rate of the reaction between 4-nitrophenyldiphenylphosphate and fluoride ion has been evaluated. In studying aqueous organic mixtures, a new preferential solvation model has been developed, that considers the competition between three species in solution for the probe micro-solvation shell: water, organic solvent and a 1:1 \"complex\" formed by water and organic solvent (Solv-Água). Based on this new model, the effect of temperature, as well as probe and organic solvent properties on solvation has been analyzed. It has been observed that the rate of the reaction between p-nitrophenyldiphenylphosphate and fluoride ion shows little dependence on the properties of interfacial region of cationic micelles and can be reproduced, in the absence of micelles, in solutions containing the same water concentration and ionic force as the micellar pseudo-phase.

Neste trabalho, sondas solvatocrômicas foram empregadas no estudo da solvatação em solventes puros e misturas aquosas de solventes polares práticos e apráticos. A partir da polaridade de misturas aquosas de solventes orgânicos, determinou-se a concentração de água interfacial de micelas catiônicas. Finalmente, avaliou-se o efeito da polaridade e força iônica interfaciais de micelas catiônicas sobre a velocidade da reação entre p-nitrofenildifenilfosfato e o íon fluoreto. No estudo de misturas aquosas de solventes orgânicos, um novo modelo de solvatação preferencial foi elaborado, segundo o qual três espécies presentes em solução competem pela camada de solvatação da sonda: água, solvente orgânico e o \"complexo\" formado por uma molécula de água e outra de solvente orgânico (Solv-Água). Através deste modelo, analisou-se o efeito da temperatura e das propriedades das sondas e dos solventes orgânicos sobre o fenômeno da solvatação. Em soluções aquosas de micelas catiônicas, observou-se uma desidratação da interface em função do aumento do grupo hidrofílico do tensotativo e da mudança de geometria micelar de esférica para cilíndrica. Verificou-se que a velocidade da reação entre pnitrofenildifenilfosfato e fluoreto é pouco afetada pela interface micelar e pode ser reproduzida, na ausência de micelas, em soluções com mesma concentração de água e força iônica que as micelas. / Solvatochromic probes have been employed to study the polarity of pure solvents and binary mixtures of water with protic and aprotic polar solvents. From polarity data of aqueous organic mixtures, the concentration of interfacial water of cationic micelles has been determined. In aqueous solutions of cationic micelles, the dehydration of interfacial region has been observed as a result of increasing the volume of the surfactant head group and changing micellar geometry from spherical to cylindrical. Finally, the effect of interfacial polarity and ionic force on the rate of the reaction between 4-nitrophenyldiphenylphosphate and fluoride ion has been evaluated. In studying aqueous organic mixtures, a new preferential solvation model has been developed, that considers the competition between three species in solution for the probe micro-solvation shell: water, organic solvent and a 1:1 \"complex\" formed by water and organic solvent (Solv-Água). Based on this new model, the effect of temperature, as well as probe and organic solvent properties on solvation has been analyzed. It has been observed that the rate of the reaction between p-nitrophenyldiphenylphosphate and fluoride ion shows little dependence on the properties of interfacial region of cationic micelles and can be reproduced, in the absence of micelles, in solutions containing the same water concentration and ionic force as the micellar pseudo-phase.

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El conocimiento de las características interfaciales es de suma importancia para poder desarrollar materiales que sean capaces de dar lugar a reacciones electrocatalíticas eficientes. Por esta razón, en esta tesis se muestran diferentes estudios interfaciales sobre superficies monocristalinas de platino y cobre en diferentes electrolitos. Además se estudian las características de la interfase electrodoldisolución con superficies de platino modificadas con adátomos de hierro, cobalto y níquel. Para ello, se han empleado las técnicas de voltametría cíclica, espectroscopía infrarroja con transformada de Fourier, desplazamiento de carga con CO y salto de temperatura inducido por láser. Los resultados muestran cómo varía el campo eléctrico interfacial disminuye al aumentar el recubrimiento de hierro y níquel en la superficie de platino. Este efecto tiene un gran impacto en la reacción de evolución de hidrógeno, ya que la mejora electrocatalítica de esta reacción está relacionada con la energía de reorganización de las moléculas de agua, la cual, depende de la fortaleza del campo eléctrico interfacial. Los estudios realizados en medio alcalino para las diferentes superficies de cobre y platino sin modificar muestran una correlación entre el potencial de máxima entropía y las funciones de trabajo para cada una de las diferentes orientaciones atómicas superficiales. Por otro lado, debido a la aplicabilidad de las nanopartículas en los sistemas reales de conversión de energía, se realizaron experimentos de sincrotrón empleando la técnica de Bragg coherent difraction imaging con el objetivo de estudiar el deterioro de las nanopartículas en condiciones operando.