Chemical Homogenization for Nonmixing Reactive Interfaces in Porous Media.

Through rocks and concrete, batteries, and bone, porous media represent a wide class of materials whose chemical makeup and reactivity directly impact their behavior at multiple scales. While various theoretical and computational models have been implemented to capture the chemical behavior of these systems, none have investigated how the very geometry of porous media, the structures that make these materials porous and define the interfaces between solids and fluids, affects these behaviors. Through this work, we explored Minkowski functionals-geometric morphometers that describe the spatial and topological features of a convex space-to investigate how microstructural morphology affects systemic chemical performance. Using a novel asynchronous cellular automaton known as a surface chemical reaction network (CRN) to model chemical behavior, linkages were found between Minkowski functionals and equilibrium constant, as well as properties related to the dynamics of the microstructure's reaction quotient. These quantities, in turn, give insight into how morphology affects bulk porous media properties, such as Gibbs' free energy.