Professor Heonsang Lee of Dong-A University Publishes Papers in Nature Communications and Fluid Physics

Enhancing the Internationalization of Research on Nano, Bio, and Polymer Fluid Theory
at the Department of Chemical Engineering BK-21 Education and Research Group

Dong-A University (President Lee Hae-woo) announced on the 14th that Professor Heon-sang Lee's team from the Department of Chemical Engineering BK-21 Education and Research Group had their research on nano, bio, and polymer fluid theory consecutively published in the prestigious academic journal Nature Communications and Physics of Fluids, published by the American Physical Society.

This research was an international collaborative study initiated when a renowned overseas university requested Professor Lee to provide a theoretical interpretation of experimental results. It signifies an enhancement in the internationalization level of the research conducted by the BK Education and Research Group of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Dong-A University, led by Professor Lee.

The research paper on "Pilot-scale Process (Sample Production Line) and Stability of Ultra-high Concentration Graphene" was published in the December issue of Nature Communications after approximately two years of joint research.

Professor Lee was listed as a co-corresponding author, and Kyung-min Choi, a doctoral student who participated in the theoretical calculations, was named as a co-author.

Previously, Professor Lee published a paper in 2021 on "Colloid Stability Theory Considering Excluded Volume," while Professor Danli from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Dr. Jinguhan Xiong’s team were developing a process to mass-produce graphene dispersion at the pilot (sample) scale.

The Melbourne research team requested Professor Lee to interpret the stability of highly concentrated graphene dispersions using his theory to understand why such high concentrations remain stable, leading to this collaborative research.

Using Onsager's density functional theory and his own research on stability theory considering excluded volume, Professor Lee perfectly demonstrated that very high concentration graphene dispersions can form a stable amorphous structure without aligning in one direction.

He stated, "It is meaningful that an international collaborative study, initiated by a request for theoretical interpretation after overseas prestigious universities reviewed my paper, has led to excellent research outcomes. Building on this joint research, we are conducting collaborative studies with other renowned foreign universities on various nano manufacturing processes."

Additionally, Professor Lee’s research team discovered the "wetting capillary condensation phenomenon," where thermodynamically miscible fluids do not mix under certain flow conditions. Their paper was published in the December issue of Physics of Fluids, published by the American Physical Society.

The paper lists doctoral students Ashar Hossain and Kyung-min Choi as first authors, master's student Hyun-soo Kim as a co-author, and Professor Lee as the corresponding author.

According to the research results, saltwater and sugar water, which normally mix well with water, do not mix under specific flow conditions, and blood also exhibits flow conditions where it does not mix with water or alcohol.

The technology developed through this research is expected to have a significant impact across a wide range of fields, including small-volume blood flow, blood drug delivery, polymer processing, and marine pollution by toxic substances, with follow-up studies currently underway.

Professor Lee said, "The 'wetting capillary condensation' phenomenon, where miscible fluids do not mix but deform under flow conditions controlled by diffusion due to osmotic drift, is the first such phenomenon reported in the field of fluid dynamics. We have completed the development of its theory and experimental methods. Since research in precision chemical material engineering theory is a hardcore research area with few researchers, I hope that there will be more interest and support in Korea for basic engineering fields, which are crucial for creating future growth engines, comparable to applied engineering."

Professor Lee researches theoretical and experimental methods in the field of "consilience mechanics," which encompasses statistical quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and rheology of soft materials such as nano, polymer, liquid crystal, and biofluids. He is also authoring a consilience mechanics textbook that covers these areas.

Professor Heonsang Lee, Dong-A University.

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