Nanothermodynamics: Theory and Applications
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Thermodynamics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 11
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nonequilibrium thermodynamics for surfaces; boundary conditions; nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; transport through porous media; nanothermodynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory and its application to batteries, fuel cells, interface transport, and small systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will present a collection of works to illustrate the development of Hill’s nanothermodynamics. Recent literature indicates that this theory is underused and that new, interesting paths of research are opening up. It is our wish to give these more attention.
Hill’s theory addresses the problem of size and shape dependence in thermodynamics. Thermodynamics can be formulated for the nanoscale, even the microscale, whenever surface and line energies become non-negligible, like when the Young–Laplace equation applies.
The systematic procedure has already resulted in the tremendously successful scaling laws in solution theory, which produce thermodynamic factors from Kirkwood–Buff theory—a theory that earlier was hampered with convergence issues. Like the chemical potential, once introduced by Gibbs, we now have to consider a new property, the subdivision potential. This is the energy inherent in division of the system into smaller parts. The picture is still quite incomplete; very few variables are studied.
The purpose of this issue is to obtain more theoretical insight, partly through applications. How does the subdivision potential alter the driving forces of transport in non-equilibrium thermodynamics? The statistical mechanical machinery remains as before, but Legendre–Fenchel transforms may be needed to replace Legendre transforms.
Within small system thermodynamics, we can deal with single molecules, unlike in classical thermodynamics. Equilibrium properties will change upon confinement and depend on system shape. Such features make nanothermodynamics very different from classical thermodynamics. The issue will illustrate that thermodynamic equations apply perfectly well also for small particle numbers, provided that small-system effects are accounted for correctly. Equations of state have been used down to one particle in a box! As of yet, these properties are rather unexplored. We hope that it can extend the classical theory down to the nanometer scale.
Prof. Dr. Dick Bedeaux
Prof. Dr. Signe Kjelstrup
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- nanothermodynamics
- non-equilibrium thermodynamics
- subdivision potential
- small system thermodynamics
- Hill's thermodynamics
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