Fundamentals of Water Science

Water is the most commonplace of substances, yet its properties are unique among chemical compounds. Our fundamental research aims at the molecular-level understanding of water and aqueous systems in nature and technology, both under ambient and extreme conditions.

Figure: Local atomic and charge density distributions for aniline in aqueous solution. (a) Oxygen density, (b) Hydrogen density and (c) Charge density (from Plugatyr and Svishchev, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 114509 (2009))

Clean Energy and Environment

The question of water and energy use underlies virtually all environmental issues. Hydrothermal technologies are central to the development of clean energy sources and new transportation fuels. Our research in this area focuses on properties and applications of super-critical water in energy generation systems, such as the GEN IV super-critical water-cooled nuclear reactor and its use for hydrogen co-generation. Another area of our research activities is the advanced super-critical water oxidation technology for the utilization of organic wastes, the process that leaves no hazardous by-products in the environment.

Figure: Schematic concept of a combined cycle water-cooled nuclear reactor that operates above the thermodynamic critical point of water (courtesy of GEN IV International Forum)