The overall objective of the research in the Zhang group is to further the understanding of the functional thermo-fluids preparations, flow dynamic, heat and mass transfer, and thermodynamic cycle, from both micro/nano scale and macroscopic scale.

Thermal working fluids have very important roles in energy conversion, transport and storage. More and more new functional thermo-fluids are being developed or understood again. They will be one of the most major components in enhancing the utilization efficiency of renewable energy and constructing an ecosystem or eco-society. For example, alternative to current HFCs, natural refrigerant and Low-Global-Warming Potential mixture fluids, becomes a hot topic to phase down HFCs. We need to take into account the heat transfer nature of the natural refrigerant and also the energy efficiency of equipment and systems, the cost of new equipment and the lifespan of equipment.

In this laboratory, some functional thermo-fluids are being developed and studied, which have great potentials in the areas of heating, cooling, refrigeration, air conditioning, power generation, building energy, renewable energy utilization and storage etc..micro/nano These functional thermo-fluids include natural fluids/refrigerants, supercritical fluid, nearcritical fluid, magnetic fluid, phase-change slurry, liquid metals etc.. Experimental and high-performance numerical methods are developed to clarify the fundamental aspects of preparation, heat transfer, and thermodynamic cycle performance. Recently much of our work has focused on natural fluids/refrigerants, supercritical fluid and phase-change slurry.