Enhanced thermal conductivity of nanofluids by introducing Janus particles

Drag on nanoparticles in a liquid: from slip to stick boundary conditions

Stokes' law with stick boundary conditions has been widely accepted for the transport of microscale particles in a liquid. For nanoparticles, however, the hydrodynamic boundary conditions become unclear. In this work, the drag force acting on nanoparticles suspended in a liquid and the hydrodynamic boundary coefficient were calculated by using molecular dynamics simulations. For weak interfacial couplings, slip boundary conditions can be used to describe the particle transport, whereas at strong interfacial couplings, the hydrodynamic boundary coefficient converges to a value greater than the prediction by Stokes' law. In the present paper, we propose a density accumulation length to determine the effective particle size, which makes Stokes' law valid for nanoparticles. For a copper nanoparticle suspended in an argon liquid, the density accumulation length increases to 0.32 nm with increasing solid-liquid coupling strength. Furthermore, it is found that there exists a transition from slip to stick boundary conditions as the solid-liquid intermolecular coupling strength increases. The results presented in this work provide guidance for the prediction and manipulation of the transport properties of nanoparticles in a liquid.

Regulating nanoscale directional heat transfer with Janus nanoparticles

Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) with heterogeneous compositions or interfacial properties can exhibit directional heating upon external excitation with optical or magnetic energy. This directional heating may be harnessed for new nanotechnology and biomedical applications. However, it remains unclear how the JNP properties (size, interface) and laser excitation method (pulsed vs. continuous) regulate the directional heating. Here, we developed a numerical framework to analyze the asymmetric thermal transport in JNP heating under photothermal stimulation. We found that JNP-induced temperature contrast, defined as the ratio of temperature increase on the opposite sides in the surrounding medium, is highest for smaller JNPs and when a low thermal resistance coating covers a minor fraction of JNP surface. Notably, we discovered up to 20-fold enhancement of the temperature contrast based on thermal confinement under pulsed heating compared with continuous heating. This work brings new insights to maximize the asymmetric thermal responses for JNP heating.

Advances in phase change materials and nanomaterials for applications in thermal energy storage

Phase-changing materials are nowadays getting global attention on account of their ability to store excess energy. Solar thermal energy can be stored in phase changing material (PCM) in the forms of latent and sensible heat. The stored energy can be suitably utilized for other applications such as space heating and cooling, water heating, and further industrial processing where low-temperature heat energy is required. The presented work attempts to evaluate past, present, and future trends in the development of energy storage materials and their encapsulation techniques for efficient utilization of the available energy. Hybrid PCM with nanoparticles has excellent potential to tailor thermo-physical properties and uplift the efficiency of energy storage systems. Synergistic use of PCM with nanomicromaterial can further improve the capacity of energy storage system along with the charging and discharging efficiencies of the system. Impacts of the size of particle, concentration ratio, and shape of particle have been studied to assess their effectiveness in enhancing storage efficiency of the systems. Waste heat recovered and stored in energy storage materials can undoubtedly improve the total energy availability of the source, thus enhancing the exergy efficiency with simultaneous reduction in the entropy generation rate. Core-shell nanoparticles can further improve the optical absorptance spectra towards an infrared region of thermal energy. Paraffin wax-based NEPCMs with graphene nanoplatelets achieve 2.14 W/(m·K) thermal conductivity, enabling faster and more efficient heat transmission and lowering charging and discharging times for thermal storage devices.

Synthesis, characterization, biological activity, and in vitro digestion of selenium nanoparticles stabilized by Antarctic ice microalgae polypeptide

A new type of uniformly dispersed selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was prepared using Antarctic ice microalgae polypeptides (AIMP) as the stabilizer and dispersant. Different characterization techniques and tests show that the SeNPs are effectively combined with AIMP through physical adsorption and hydrogen bonding to form a more stable structure. Orange-red, zero-valence, amorphous, and spherical AIMP-SeNPs with a diameter of 52.07 ± 1.011 nm and a zeta potential of -41.41 ± 0.882 mV were successfully prepared under the optimal conditions. The AIMP-SeNPs had significantly higher DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radicals scavenging abilities compared with AIMP and Na2SeO3, and prevented the growth of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by disrupting the integrity of cell walls, cell membranes and mitochondrial membranes. The AIMP-SeNPs had higher gastrointestinal stability compared with SeNPs. Thus, this research highlights the crucial role of AIMP as a biopolymer framework in the dispersion, stabilization, and size management of SeNPs and concludes that AIMP-SeNPs can be exploited as a potent antioxidant supplement and antibacterial substance in foods and medicine.

Can graphene improve the thermal conductivity of copper nanofluids?

Copper (Cu) nanofluids (NFs) have attracted attention due to their high thermal conductivity, which has conferred a wide variety of applications. However, their high reactivity favors oxidation, corrosion and aggregation, leading them to lose their properties of interest. Copper capped by graphene (Cu@G) core@shell nanoparticles (NPs) have also attracted interest from the medical and industrial sectors because graphene can shield the Cu NPs from undesired phenomena. Additionally, they share some properties that expand the range of applications of Cu NFs. In this work, new Morse potentials are reported to reproduce the behavior of Cu@G NPs through molecular dynamics. Coordination-dependent Morse parameters were fitted for C, H, and Cu based on density functional theory calculations. Then, these parameters were implemented to evaluate the thermal conductivity of Cu@G NFs employing the Green-Kubo formalism, with NPs from 1.5 to 6.1 nm at 100 to 800 K, varying the size, the number of layers and the orientation of the graphene flakes. It was found that Cu@G NFs are stable and have an improved thermal conductivity compared to the Cu NFs, being 3.7 to 18.2 times higher at 300 K with only one graphene layer and above 26.2 times higher for the graphene-trilayered NPs. These values can be higher for temperatures below 300 K. Oppositely, the size, homogeneity and orientations of the graphene flakes did not affect the thermal conductivity of the Cu@G NFs.

Molecular dynamics simulation of thermal transport across a solid/liquid interface created by a meniscus

Understandings heat transfer across a solid/liquid interface is crucial for establishing novel thermal control pathways in a range of energy applications. One of the major problems raised in this context is the impact of the three-phase contact line between solid, liquid, and gas on heat flux perturbations at the nanoscale. The focus of this research is the thermal transport via nanosized meniscus restricted between two solid walls. The molecular dynamics approach was used to consider different wetting states of the meniscus by varying the interaction potential between atoms of the substrate and the liquid. The influence of the meniscus size on the energy exchange between two solid walls was also studied. It was discovered that possessing a three-phase contact line reduces the interfacial boundary resistance between solid and liquid. Furthermore, the finite element method was employed to connect atomistic simulations with continuum mechanics. We show that the wetting angle and interfacial boundary resistance are essential important parameters for multiscale analysis of thermal engineering issues with precise microscale parametrization.

Counter-Intuitive Evaporation in Nanofluids Droplets due to Stick-Slip Nature

We experimentally investigate the evaporation characteristics of a sessile ethanol droplet containing Al₂O₃ and Cu nanoparticles of sizes 25 and 75 nm on a heated substrate using shadowgraphy and infrared imaging techniques. Our results demonstrate that the droplet contact line dynamics resulting from the presence of various nanoparticles plays a dominant role in the evaporation process. This is in contrast to the widely held assumption that the enhanced evaporation rate observed in sessile nanofluid droplets is due to the higher thermal conductivity of the added nanoparticles. We observe that even though the thermal conductivity of Al₂O₃ is an order of magnitude lower than that of Cu, droplets containing 25-nm-sized Al₂O₃ exhibit pinned contact line dynamics and evaporate much more rapidly than droplets containing Cu nanoparticles of both sizes and 75 nm Al₂O₃ nanoparticles that exhibit stick-slip behavior. We also found that the droplets with different nanoparticles display distinct thermal patterns due to the difference in contact line behavior, which alters the heat transfer inside the droplets. We establish this counter-intuitive observation by analyzing the temporal variations of the perimeter, free surface area, and deposition patterns on the substrate.

Quasi-Linearization Analysis for Entropy Generation in MHD Mixed-Convection Flow of Casson Nanofluid over Nonlinear Stretching Sheet with Arrhenius Activation Energy

Thermal performance of magnetically driven Casson nanofluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet under the influence of entropy, activation energy and convective boundary conditions was analyzed numerically, employing the quasi-linearization method (QLM). The collective behavior of thermophoretic diffusion and Brownian motion along with special effects of viscous dissipation, thermal radiation, heat generation and joule heating are considered in the energy equation for the flow problem. The addition of nanoparticles helps to stabilize the flowing of a nanofluid and maintain the symmetry of the flowing structure. The governing highly nonlinear coupled differential equations of velocity, temperature, concentration and entropy are simulated through an iterative scheme encoded with MATLAB programming language. The geometric model is, therefore, described using a symmetry technique. A comparative analysis of linear and nonlinear stretching in sheets is presented via graphs and tables regarding pertinent dimensionless parameters. It is worth noting that the Nusselt number and Sherwood number decrease at relatively higher rates with growing values of activation energy in the case of nonlinear stretching. Moreover, the entropy generation rate near the stretching surface decreases due to the strong effects of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion while it goes on improving far off the stretching surface.