Water-Dispersible Boron Nitride Nanospheres with High Thermal Conductivity for Heat-Transfer Nanofluids: Water-Dispersible Boron Nitride Nanospheres with High Thermal Conductivity for Heat-Transfer Nanofluids

Numerical Investigation of the Use of Boron Nitride/Water and Conventional Nanofluids in a Microchannel Heat Sink

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of the use of boron nitride (BN) and other conventional nanoparticles (Al2O3, CuO and TiO2) on pressure drop and heat transfer in a microchannel. The governing equations for forced fluid flow and heat transfer were worked out by using fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Computational results collected from fluent CFD code for Al2O3 as the nano-particle were compared with numerical values used in the literature for validation. The basis of a water-cooled (pure water, Al2O3/Water, CuO/Water, TiO2/Water and BN/Water) smooth microchannel was outlined, and then the corresponding laminar flow and heat transfer were evaluated numerically. The results from the numerical tests (NT) express good agreement with the values found in the literature. These results also indicate, through the comparison which was performed by taking the heat transfer and pressure loss parameters between BN and other widely used conventional nanoparticles (Al2O3, CuO and TiO2) into consideration, that BN is the more favorable nanoparticle. In comparison to other common nanoparticles (Al2O3, CuO and TiO2), BN enhances heat transfer and slightly raised pressure losses owing to its high thermal conductivity and high velocity profile because of low density. It is also chemically stable at the highest temperature relative to most solid materials. Thus, it has a structure that can be used in cooling systems for a long time without causing a problem of agglomeration.

Fabrication and application of BN nanoparticles, nanosheets and their nanohybrids

Smart implementation of novel advanced nanomaterials is the key for the solution of many complex problems of modern science. In recent years, there has been a great interest in the synthesis and application of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes because of their unique physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. By contrast, the synthesis, characterization and exploration of other morphological types of BN nanostructure - BN nanoparticles and BN nanosheets - have received less attention. However, the detailed investigations on advantages of every morphological BN type for specific applications have only recently been started. One of the promising directions is the utilization of BN-based nanohybrids. This review is dedicated to the in-depth analysis of recently published works on the fabrication and application of BN nanoparticles, nanosheets, and their nanohybrids. It covers a variety of developed synthetic methods toward fabrication of such nanostructures, and their specific application potentials in catalysis, drug delivery, tribology and structural materials. Finally, the review focuses on the theoretical aspects of this quickly emerging field.