Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

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Journal of Molecular Liquids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molliq

Nanoparticles size effect on thermophysical properties of ionic liquids

based nanofluids
Kevin L. Main a, Brandon K. Eberl b, Daniel McDaniel a, Amitav Tikadar c, Titan C. Paul a,⇑, Jamil A. Khan d
a
Department of Mathematical Sciences & Engineering, University South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, SC 29801, United States
b
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, United States
c
The G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems rely on stable heat transfer fluids (HTFs) with favorable thermo-
Received 21 June 2021 physical properties to uphold high energy storage capacity and reduce costs. Ionic Liquids (ILs) is one of
Revised 12 September 2021 the potential HTFs for the next generation CSP systems. Nanoparticles are often mixed with the ILs to
Accepted 17 September 2021
enhance the thermophysical properties of the base ILs. This paper presents the experimental assessment
Available online 21 September 2021
of the nanoparticle’s size effect on density, viscosity, and thermal conductivity of Ionic liquids (ILs) based
nanofluids. ILs based nanofluids was synthesized by dispersing 1 wt% aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanopar-
Keywords:
ticles with difference particle sizes:10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm, and 90 nm into 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium
Ionic Liquids
Nanofluids
bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([C4mim][NTf2]) IL. The density, viscosity, and thermal conductivity
Thermal Conductivity were measured within the temperature ranges of 20–70 °C, 10–90 °C, and 10–70 °C, respectively. The
Rheological behavior enhanced density of ILs based nanofluids was noticed, compared to the base ILs, however, no significant
Viscosity density difference was observed based on nanoparticles size. Based on the size of the nanoparticles, no
significant difference was observed in the viscosity of ILs based nanofluids and average
13.71%
enhancement of viscosity was recorded for 1 wt% ILs based nanofluids. However, a maximum 9.73%
enhancement in the effective thermal conductivity of ILs based nanofluids was found for 10 nm nanopar-
ticles for 1 wt% ILs based nanofluids. Depending on the nanoparticle’s concentration, maximum viscosity
and thermal conductivity enhancement was reported 30% and 11% respectively for 2 wt% ILs based
nanofluids with 10 nm nanoparticles.
Ó 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction or lenses that focus sunlight on a central light collector filled with
a heat transfer fluids (HTFs) [3]. CSP systems operate by harnessing
Global energy demand is promulgating an energy crisis that is solar flux by transferring heat to the HTFs [4]. The absorbed heat
seen as an essential issue facing nations as part of recent global flows throughout a heat exchanger and leads to steam production
trends towards reducing carbon emission output [1]. A 2020 U.S. used to produce electricity. Current HTFs such as Thermal VP-1,
Energy Information Administration (EIA) study predicts domestic molten salt, and mineral oil [5] have drawbacks that increase the
energy consumption to increase by 0.3%/year from 2020 to 2050 per-unit electricity cost due to various design constraints and/or
[2]. However, it remains to be seen how economic growth could operating temperature ranges. For example, thermal VP-1 has high
impact the price of fossil fuels over these years. In addition, the vapor pressure at high temperatures, molten salts solidify at low
reduction of technology costs and policies that encourage the use temperatures, and mineral oil has a low decomposition tempera-
of renewable energy could incentivize the growth of solar energy ture [5]. These are the primary motivators in studying ionic liquids
generation [2]. (ILs) to improve the efficiency of CSP system.
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is one of the developing solar Ionic liquids (ILs) are a special class of molten salts which
energy technologies that is currently being used commercially remain liquid below 100 °C [6] and possess numerous desirable
throughout the world. These systems rely on a series of mirrors thermophysical properties such as; high thermal stability, wide
operating temperature range, non-corrosive, and negligible vapor
pressure [7–10]. In addition, nanofluids, which researchers first
⇑ Corresponding author. suggested in 1995 at the Argonne National Lab, are described as
E-mail address: [email protected] (T.C. Paul).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2021.117609
0167-7322/Ó 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

Nomenclature

T Temperature [K] /a Effective volume fraction of aggregates[
]

k Thermal conductivity [W/m.K]
h Interfacial layer thickness[nm] Subscripts
a Average radius[nm] INF Ionic liquids based nanofluids
BL Base liquid
Greek Symbols NP Nanoparticle
c, c1 Constant[
] a Aggregate
q Density[kg/m3] lr Interfacial layer
l Dynamic viscosity[centipoise]
/ Nanoparticle volume fraction[
]
/m Maximum particle packing fraction[
]

a fluid creating by dispersing nanoparticles in the base fluid [11]. Paul et al. [26–28]. The authors reported enhanced thermophysical
Using the concept of nanofluids, scientists have realized that plac- properties and forced convection heat transfer coefficient of ILs
ing of nanoparticles into ILs can improve the thermophysical prop- based nanofluids compared to the base ILs. There are few numeri-
erties of the base ILs and thus increase the efficiency of CSP system cal investigations of forced convection behavior of ILs based
[12–24]. Chereches et al. [12] studied the viscosity, heat capacity, nanofluids under laminar flow regime [29–31] and all of them con-
and electrical conductivity of ILs based nanofluids where they syn- cluded that heat transfer coefficient increases with nanoparticles
thesized the ILs based nanofluids by dispersing Al2O3 nanoparticles concentration.
(0.05–10 wt%) into 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesul- All of the above investigations of ILs based nanofluids were
fonate ([C2mim][CH3SO3]) IL. They reported 250% enhancement studied with only one nanoparticle size; however, we know that
of viscosity for 10 wt% nanoparticles. Enhanced thermal conductiv- nanoparticles sizes change the surface area and may affect the
ity, viscosity, and thermal stability was reported by Ferreira et al. thermophysical properties of ILs based nanofluids. There are lots
[13]. Their ILs based nanofluids are comprised of four different of investigation about nanoparticles size effect on thermophysical
phosphonium ILs and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). properties of conventional nanofluids (water or ethylene glycol
Enhanced density and heat capacity of ionic nanofluids (INF) were based) [32–36] and those studies suggest that there are significant
also reported [14–16], where the INF comprise of imidazolium ILs effect of nanoparticles size and shape on the thermophysical prop-
and MWCNTs. However, INF with carboxylic group-functionalized erties and thermal performance of water/ethylene glycol based
multi-walled carbon nanotubes (oMWCNTs) show lower viscosity nanofluids. However, nanoparticles size effect on the thermophys-
than the base ionic liquids [17]. Viscosity, electrical conductivity, ical properties of ILs based nanofluids is yet to explore.
and surface tension of ILs based nanofluids (1-Butyl-3- In the present study, ILs based nanofluids was synthesized
methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate IL and graphene) were using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)i
studied by Alizadeh et al. [18]. The author reported that the viscos- mide ([C4mim][NTf2]) and Al2O3 nanoparticles. To study the effect
ity, electrical conductivity, and surface tension increase with of nanoparticles size on the thermophysical properties of ILs based
nanoparticle concentration (1, 2, and 3 wt%) and decrease with nanofluids, five different spherical nanoparticle sizes such as:
temperature. Jorjani et al. [19] studied the viscosity and thermal 10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm, and 90 nm were considered. The thermo-
conductivity of ILs based nanofluids (1-Butyl-3- physical properties (density, viscosity and thermal conductivity)
methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate IL and diamond nanoparti- of 1 wt% ILs based nanofluids with different particle sizes were
cles with nanoparticles size 8 nm). The author studied three differ- measured and compared to the base IL. A strong understanding
ent concentrations of nanoparticles (0.36, 0.69, and 1.04 vol%) and of nanoparticle size effect on thermophysical properties of ILs
reported maximum 9% and 126% enhancement of thermal conduc- based nanofluids has been developed from these findings.
tivity and viscosity, respectively with 1.04 vol% ILs based nanoflu-
ids. Functionalized graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles (0.5, 1, and
2 wt%) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-bis(trifluoromethylsulfo
nyl)imide IL was used to synthesize ILs based nanofluids and stud- 2. Experimental methods
ied the density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity
[20]. Maximum reported enhancement of thermal conductivity 2.1. Synthesis of ionic liquids (ILs) based nanofluids
and heat capacity are 6.5% and 27%, respectively. The author also
quantifies the heat transfer coefficients using theoretical correla- The experimental assessment includes measuring and record-
tions and found 7.2% enhancement with 0.5 wt% ILs based nanoflu- ing thermophysical properties: density, viscosity, and thermal con-
ids. Chen et al. [21] experimentally investigated the ductivity of ILs based nanofluids. The representative IL is 1-butyl-
thermophysical and optical properties of 1-hexyl-3- 3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide
methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate IL and SiC nanoparticles ([C4mim][NTf2]) and it was procured from IoLiTec company (Ger-
nanofluids. The author reported that the highest absorbance of many) at 99.5% purity. The molecular weight of [C4mim][NTf2] is
solar radiation for 0.03 wt% of SiC. Liu et al. [22–23] also reported 419.37 g/mol and molecular formula is C10H15F6N3O4S2.
the enhanced thermophysical and optical properties for 1-hexyl-3- ILs based nanofluids were prepared using a two-step method
methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate and graphene based [37] where 1 wt% Al2O3 nanoparticles were dispersing into base
nanofluids. INF was comprised of Al2O3 nanoparticles and imida- IL. Four different nanoparticle sizes are considered : 10 nm,
zolium ILs and enhanced thermal conductivity was reported [24– 30 nm, 60 nm, and 90 nm. The Al2O3 nanoparticles were purchased
25]. Thermophysical properties and thermal performance of ILs from Meliorum Technologies Inc. in Rochester, NY. Each sample
based nanofluids (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis{(trifluorome was placed on a Fisher Scientific vortex mixer for approximately
thyl)sulfonyl}imide and Al2O3 nanoparticles) was investigated by one hour to evenly disperse particles throughout the fluid before
2
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

Fig. 1. Schematic of synthesis of ILs based nanofluids.

analysis. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of ILs based nanofluids prepa- ity of IL and IL based nanofluids, the thermal conductivity meter
ration and measurements technique. was calibrated using standard glycerin. At each temperature, ther-
mal conductivity measurement was repeated three times and mea-
2.2. Measurement of thermophysical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) surement uncertainty was ± 0.75% [23].
based nanofluids
3. Results and discussion
2.2.1. Density
The density of the IL was measured using a 10 mL Kimble pyc-
3.1. Density of ILs based nanofluids
nometer (Thomas Scientific). The temperature of the sample was
maintained by placing the sample in a thermal bath (Thermo
The density of ILs based nanofluids was measured for 1 wt%
NESLAB RTE7). The empty pycnometer and pycnometer with sam-
concentration with different size of Al2O3 nanoparticles and pre-
ple were weighed by using a METTLER TOLEDO balance with an
sented in Fig. 2. It can be seen from the Fig. 2 that density increase
accuracy of ± 0.01 mg. Calibration of pycnometer was performed
with nanoparticles inclusion into the base fluid. However, density
by using water before measuring the density of base IL and IL based
does not have a significant difference based on the size of the
nanofluids. Density was measured within the temperature range of
nanoparticles (see Fig. 2&3). This outcome confirms that the den-
20 °C-70 °C. At each temperature, density measurement was
sity of IL based nanofluids is only a function of the density of
repeated three times and measurement uncertainty was ± 2.5%
nanoparticles, base fluid, and nanoparticles concentration.. That
[23].
can also be seen in the mixing theory [38] of nanofluids:

2.2.2. Viscosity qINF ¼ /qNP þ ð1  /ÞqBL ð1Þ

The Brookfield DV3T viscometer was used to take a series of vis-
where, qINF , qNP , and qBL are the density of IL based nanofluids,
cosity measurements. The viscometer’s cone and plate arrange-
nanoparticles, and base IL, respectively, and / is the nanoparticles
ment can hold 1 mL sample. There is a thermal jacket around the
volume fraction.
cone and plate arrangement to maintain the constant sample tem-
From the Fig. 2, it can also be seen that the density of base IL
perature with an accuracy of ± 0.1 °C. Calibration of viscometer was
and IL based nanofluids decreases with temeprature increase
performed using standard oil before measuring the viscosity of
base IL and IL-based nanofluids. Viscosity was measured within a
temperature range of 10 °C-90 °C and NESLAB RTE7 thermal bath 1.55
was used to regulate the temperature. Viscosity measurement
was repeated three times at each temperature and measurement
uncertainty was ± 2.35% [23]. 1.5
Density, g/cm3

2.2.3. Thermal conductivity

KD2 Pro thermal property analyzer (Decagon Device, USA) was 1.45
used to measure the thermal conductivity of base IL and IL based
nanofluids. The meter uses the transient hot wire method to mea- Base IL 10 nm
1.4
sure the thermal conductivity. The 60 mm long and 1.3 mm diam- 30 nm 60 nm
eter probe was inserted vertically into the sample vial and probe is 90 nm Mixing theroy [31]
connected to a microcontroller to measure and record the thermal
1.35
conductivity data. Thermal conductivity was measured within the 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
temperature range of 10 °C-70 °C and the temperature of the sam- Temperature,oC
ple was maintained by placing the sample in a thermal bath
(Thermo NESLAB RTE7). Before measuring the thermal conductiv- Fig. 2. Density of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids as a function of temperature.

3
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

within the measured temperature range of 20 °C-70 °C. Fig. 3 120

Base IL 10 nm
shows the density of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids at 20 °C
30 nm 60 nm
for different nanoparticles sizes, which also confirms that no signif- 100
90 nm
icant variration of density of ILs based nanofluids with different
size of nanoparticles. 80

Viscosity, cP
3.2. Viscosity of ILs based nanofluids 60

The viscosity of ILs based nanofluids was measured for 1 wt% 40

concentration with different size of Al2O3 nanoparticles and pre-
sented in Fig. 4. Viscosity of ILs based nanofluids was increased 20
by average 13.71% throughout the temperature ranges from
10 °C to 90 °C. Depending on the size of the nanoparticles, the vis- 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
cosity does not change significantly which is also evident from
Temperature,oC
Fig. 5 where viscosity of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids at
20 °C are presented for different nanoparticles size. This is because Fig. 4. Viscosity of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with different particles
of the effective viscosity of ILs based nanofluids dependency on vis- size.
cosity of base fluids and nanoparticles volume fraction. It can also
be seen that most of the theoretical model of effective viscosity
only consider the viscosity of base fluid and nanoparticles volume 80
fraction [39]. Depending on the temperature, viscosity decreases 67.7 67.22 67.49
70 66.57
with temperature increase (see Fig. 4). Fig. 6 presents the viscosity
of 1 wt% ILs based nanofluids with 10 nm Al2O3 nanoparticles and 59.02
60
temperature dependency of viscosity can be expressed by the Eq.
(2) Viscosity, cP 50
1000
lINF ¼ exp½7:419 þ 3:4063   ð2Þ 40
T
30
Furthermore, viscosity of different concentrations (1 wt%,
1.5 wt%, and 2 wt%) ILs based nanofluids with 10 nm size of 20
Al2O3 nanoparticles was measured at 20 °C and presented in
Fig. 7, where respected wt% was converted to vol% because all of 10
the theoretical models used vol% instead of wt%. It was clear from
the Fig. 7 that viscosity increases with increased nanoparticles con- 0
centration and maximum viscosity enhancement was 30% for 2 wt Base IL 10 nm 30 nm 60 nm 90 nm
% ILs based nanofluids. Viscosity of ILs based nanofluids was com-
Fig. 5. Viscosity of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with different particles
pared with the theoretical model by Krieger and Dougherty (see size at 20 °C.
Eq. (3)) [40] where nanoparticles maximum packing fraction and
effect of variable packing fractions are taken into consideration:
tion of the radii of aggregate and primary nanoparticles and
lINF / ½g/m
¼ ð1  a Þ ð3Þ nanoparticles volume farction:
lBL /m
aa 3D
where /m is the maximum particle packing fraction and the typical /a ¼ /ð Þ ð4Þ
a
value is 0.605, ½g is the intrinsic viscosity and typical value is 2.5,
and /a is the effective volume fraction of aggregates which is a func- where, aa and a are the average radii of the aggregate and primary
nanoparticles, respectively, D is the fractal index and the typical
value is 1.8. Considering all the typical values of the parameters
1.55 the final form of the equation becomes:

lINF / aa 1:2
1:5125
¼ ð1  ð Þ Þ ð5Þ
1.5
1.4958 1.4922
1.4978 1.4951 lBL 0:605 a
1.4833
The theoretical model predicts the experimental data with an
Density, g/cm3

aggregation factor of aaa ¼ 8:5, which is apparent in Fig. 7. The max-

imum aggregation factor was reported 21.5 [26] and aggregation
1.45
formation is considered the reason for viscosity enhancement of
ILs based nanofluids compared to base ILs [18,25,26]. It is worth
mentioning that, although the Krieger and Dougherty model [40]
1.4 considers the size of the nanoparticles, however, it is considering
the aggregation factor, which the ratio of aggregates size to
nanoparticles size instead of only the size of nanoparticles. That
is also an indication that nanoparticles size does not directly
1.35
impact the viscosity of ILs based nanofluids. However, regardess
Base IL 10 nm 30 nm 60 nm 90 nm
the particles size, viscosity of ILs based nanofluids increases with
Fig. 3. Density of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with different particles increase in nanoparticles concentration. It is worth mentioning
size at 20 °C. that all of the other theoretical models, such as Einstein model
4
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

1000

μ=exp[−7.419+3.4063× 1000/ ]
R² = 0.9952

Viscosity, cP 100

10

1 wt% ILs based nanofluids (10 nm)

1
2.5 2.7 2.9 3.1 3.3 3.5 3.7
1000/T, K-1
Fig. 6. Viscosity of ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with 10 nm nanoparticles as function of temperature.

1.8 Thermal conducvity, W/m.K 0.14

1.6 0.132
Relave viscosity, μINFL/μBL

Experimental data
Krieger-Dougherty model [37]
1.4 0.124

1.2 0.116

1 0.108
Base IL 10 nm
30 nm 60 nm
0.8 90 nm
0.1
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Volume fracon, % Temperature,oC

Fig. 7. Relative viscosity as a function of nanoparticles volume percentage with an Fig. 8. Thermal conductivity of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with
aggregation factor of aaa ¼ 8:5 (10 nm nanoparticles and 20 °C). different particles size.

[41], Brinkman model [42], Bachelor model [43], and Niesen model 0.136
[44] underpredict the effective experimental viscosity of ILs based
nanofluids [26] because they only considered the nanoparticles 0.132
volume fraction and viscosity of base ILs. In addition, it was evident
Thermal conducvity, W/m.K

0.132
that there is strong ionic interaction between the nanoparticles 0.13
0.129
and cation and anion [45–47], these interaction may play impor- 0.128
tant role in the formation of agglomeration if Van der Waals attrac- 0.128
tion between particles is higher than the electrostaic repulsion.

0.124
3.3. Thermal conductivity of ILs based nanofluids 0.122

The thermal conductivity of base IL and ILs based nanofluids 0.12

(1 wt%) with different Al2O3 nanoparticles size is presented in
Fig. 8. It is clear from the figure that ILs based nanofluids’ thermal
conductivity is higher than the base fluid irrespective of the size of 0.116
the nanoparticles. The average thermal conductivity enhancement Base IL 10 nm 30 nm 60 nm 90 nm
was recorded 9.73%, 6.53%, 6.41%, and 7.6% for 10 nm, 30 nm,
60 nm, and 90 nm nanoparticles size, respectively. Depending on Fig. 9. Thermal conductivity of base ILs and ILs based nanofluids (1 wt%) with
the temperature, no significant trend was noticed (see Fig. 8). different particles size at 20 °C.

The enhancement of thermal conductivity of ILs based nanofluids

is clearer in Fig. 9, where thermal conductivity of base IL and IL 10 nm to 30 nm and after that, it shows an increasing trend from
based nanofluids are presented at 20 °C. It can be seen that the 30 nm to 90 nm. This enhancement trend of thermal conductivity
thermal conductivity first decreases with nanoparticles size from is unclear. However, it was demonstrated that water-based
5
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

nanofluids’ thermal conductivity decreases with nanoparticles size 1.2

[34] and was supported by the interfacial model by Murshed et al. 1.18
[48]. This phenomenon was attributed by the smaller surface area

/
1.16
of larger nanoparticles leads to the decrease in heat transport in ILs

Thermal conducvity rao,

based nanofluids [49]. Additionally, in previous literature, it was 1.14
reported that the theoretical Maxwell model [50] and Bruggeman 1.12
model [51] underpredict the experimental thermal conductivity
1.1
data [26]. This is why the experimental data were compared with
only the Murshed et al. [48]. 1.08
Experimental data
h i 1.06
ðkNP  klr Þ/klr 2c  c þ 1 þ ðkNP þ 2klr Þc c
2
1 ½/ ðklr  kBL Þ þ kBL 
2 2 2 Murshed et al. model [38]
1
kINF ¼ ð6Þ 1.04
c 1 ðkNP
2
þ 2klr Þ  ðkNP  klr Þ/½c þ c  1 2
1
2

1.02
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
where klr is the interfacial layer thermal conductivity, usually
Volume fracon, %
kBL < klr < kNP
Fig. 11. Relative thermal conductivity as a function of nanoparticles volume
h
c¼1þ ð7aÞ percentage (h ¼ 2nm and klr ¼ 6kBL ).
a

h klr ¼ 6kBL . The formation of the interfacial layer indicates strong

c1 ¼ 1 þ ð7bÞ
2a interaction of nanoparticles and cation and anion of ILs that was
reviled in molecular dynamics simulation of ILs based nanofluids
where h is the thickness of the interfacial layer and a is the average
with metallic nanoparticles [45–47].
radius of nanoparticles. In literature, the interfacial model (see Eq.
(6)) predicts well the experimental results with an interfacial layer
of 2 nm and the thermal conductivity of the interfacial layer is three 4. Conclusions
times the base ILs thermal conductivity [26]. The effective thermal
conductivity was calculated considering a 2 nm interfacial layer Nanoparticles size effect on the thermophysical properties
with three times higher thermal conductivity than the base fluid (density, viscosity, and thermal conductivity) of ionic liquids (ILs)
(see Fig. 10). The figure shows that the effective thermal conductiv- based nanofluids was experimentally measured. ILs based nanoflu-
ity decreases from 10 nm to 30 nm and increases from 30 nm to ids was synthesized by dispersing 1 wt% of spherical shaped Al2O3
90 nm, and the interfacial model underpredicts the experimentally nanoparticles with four different particles sizes (10 nm, 30 nm,
measured thermal conductivity enhancement with h ¼ 2nm and 60 nm, and 90 nm) into 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluo-
klr ¼ 3kBL . Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of different con- romethylsulfonyl) imide ([C4mim][NTf2]) IL. The Al2O3 nanopaticle
centrations (1 wt%, 1.5 wt%, and 2 wt%) ILs based nanofluids with size doesn’t have significant effect on the density and visocity of
10 nm size of Al2O3 nanoparticles was measured at 20 °C and pre- the ILs based nanofluids. Experimentally measured viscosity data
sented in Fig. 11, where respected wt% was converted to vol%. It was predicted well by considering a aggregation factor of
was clear from the Fig. 11 that thermal conductivity increases with aa
a
¼ 8:5. The highest average enhancement (~9.73%) of thermal
increase in nanoparticles concentration and maximum enhance- conductivity was recorded for 10 nm naoparticles size with 1 wt
ment of thermal conductivity was 11% for 2 wt% ILs based nanoflu- % and thermal conductivity show decreasing trend from 10 nm
ids. It was evident that the interfacial model predicts the to 30 nm and an increasing trend from 30 nm to 90 nm. The theo-
experimental data well with an interfacial layer thickness of retical model underpredicts the enhanced thermal conductivity of
h ¼ 2nm and thermal conductivity of the interfacial layer of IL based nanofluids. However, the interfacial model considering

1.09
Murshed et al. model [38]
1.08
/

Experimental data
1.07
Thermal conducvity rao,

1.06

1.05

1.04

1.03
/ = -7E-06a + 1.0323
1.02
0 20 40 60 80 100
Nanoparcles size, nm
Fig. 10. Thermal conductivity ratio as a function of nnaoparticles size (For interfacial model, h ¼ 2nm and klr ¼ 3kBL ).

6
K.L. Main, B.K. Eberl, D. McDaniel et al. Journal of Molecular Liquids 343 (2021) 117609

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