Fluids at the Nanoscale: from continuum to sub-continuum transport

TL;DR

This paper reviews the emerging properties of fluids at the nanometer scale, highlighting the transition from continuum to sub-continuum transport and the development of new experimental and theoretical tools in nanofluidics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamental equations, their limitations at nanoscale, and the novel phenomena observed in nanofluidic systems, bridging multiple physics disciplines.

Findings

Emergence of new fluid properties at nanometric confinement

Breakdown of classical continuum equations at molecular scales

Development of advanced experimental and theoretical techniques

Abstract

Nanofluidics has firmly established itself as a new field in fluid mechanics, as novel properties have been shown to emerge in fluids at the nanometric scale. Thanks to recent developments in fabrication technology, artificial nanofluidic systems are now being designed at the scale of biological nanopores. This ultimate step in scale reduction has pushed the development of new experimental techniques and new theoretical tools, bridging fluid mechanics, statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics. This review is intended as a toolbox for fluids at the nanometre scale. After presenting the basic equations that govern fluid behaviour in the continuum limit, we will show how these equations break down and new properties emerge in molecular scale confinement.