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Enhancement of thermal conductivity in water-based nanofluids employing TiO2/reduced graphene oxide composites

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Abstract

In this study, composites consisting of well-dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles deposited on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (designed as TiO2-G) were fabricated via a facile synthesis method, namely in situ hydrolysis of TiCl4 and subsequently immobilization on the surface of reduced graphene oxide. TiO2-G/water nanofluids with the nanoparticles loading of 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.1 wt% were prepared by ultrasonic probe in the condition without the addition of surfactants. Furthermore, the stability, zeta potential, and thermal conductivity of the TiO2-G/water nanofluids were analyzed by using different experimental methods. With the nanoparticles loading of 0.02 wt% (0.015 vol%) and 0.05 wt% (0.038 vol%), the zeta potential value of TiO2-G/water nanofluids can reach up to −46.49 and −37.44 mV, respectively, exhibiting great stability. Compared to that of the base fluid, the thermal conductivity of TiO2-G/water nanofluids increased with the increase of the loading of TiO2-G composite and the temperature of the nanofluids, and reached a maximum enhancement of ~33 % at a composite concentration of 0.1 wt% (0.078 vol%). Therefore, TiO2-G/water nanofluids can be applied to heat exchanger systems, as they provide a good long-time dispersion stability and a significant thermal conductivity enhancement.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the link project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Guangdong Province (No. U1401246), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51276044, 51502043), the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant No. 2016A030306030), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (2014A030310382), the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province of China (Grant Nos. 2014B010106005, 2015B010135011, 2015A050502047, 2016A020221031), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou City of China (Grant No. 201508030018), and the Special Program for Public Interest Research and Capability Construction of Guangdong (Grant No. 2014A010105047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Shanxing Wang, Yunyong Li, Haiyan Zhang, Yingxi Lin, Zhenghui Li, Wenguang Wang, Qibai Wu, Yannan Qian & Haoqun Hong

  2. Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Chunyi Zhi

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  1. Shanxing Wang
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  2. Yunyong Li
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Correspondence to Yunyong Li or Haiyan Zhang.

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Wang, S., Li, Y., Zhang, H. et al. Enhancement of thermal conductivity in water-based nanofluids employing TiO2/reduced graphene oxide composites. J Mater Sci 51, 10104–10115 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0239-3

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