Department of Materials Science, University of Patras, 26504 Rio Patras, Greece, Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vass. Constantinou Avenue, 116 35 Athens, Greece, Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, UPR9021 CNRS, Immunologie et Chimie Therapeutiques, 67084 Strasbourg, France, and Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Universita di Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes

Heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids: a review

Review of convective heat transfer enhancement with nanofluids

The role of surfactants in dispersion of carbon nanotubes

Recently, polymer nanocomposites reinforced with lower volume fraction of nanoceramics and carbon nanotubes have attracted steadily growing interest due to their peculiar and fascinating properties as well as their unique applications in commercial sectors. The incorporation of nanoceramics such as layered silicate clays, calcium carbonate or silica nanoparticles arranged on the nanometer scale with a high aspect ratio and/or an extremely large surface area into polymers improves their mechanical performances significantly. The properties of nanocomposites depend greatly on the chemistry of polymer matrices, nature of nanofillers, and the way in which they are prepared. The uniform dispersion of nanofillers in the polymer matrices is a general prerequisite for achieving desired mechanical and physical characteristics. In this review article, current development on the processing, structure, and mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites reinforced with respective layered silicates, ceramic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes will be addressed. Particular attention is paid on the structure–property relationship of such novel high-performance polymer nanocomposites.

Structural and mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites

Heat transfer properties of nanoparticle-in-fluid dispersions (nanofluids) in laminar flow

Production processes for carbon nanotubes often produce mixtures of solid morphologies that are mechanically entangled or that self‐associate into aggregates. Entangled or aggregated nanoparticles often need to be dispersed into fluid suspensions in order to develop materials that have unique mechanical characteristics or transport properties. This paper reviews the effects of milling, ultrasonication, high shear flow, elongational flow, functionalization, and surfactant and dispersant systems on morphology of carbon nanotubes and their interactions in the fluid phase. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been used as an example model system for experimental work because they have been available in engineering‐scale quantities and can be dispersed reproducibly in a variety of solvents and polymers. Their size scales, ∼30–50 nm in average diameter and ∼5–50 microns in length, permit MWNT dispersions to be investigated using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and i...

Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Liquids

Prior work on asymmetric thermally conducting nanoparticle dispersions has shown that it is possible to raise the thermal conductivity of low thermal conductivity liquids at modest volume fractions of nanoparticles. Stable and reproducible nanotube dispersions require careful control of the dispersant chemistry as well as an understanding of their response to input energy. This paper addresses the effects of dispersant concentration, dispersing energy, and nanoparticle loading on thermal conductivity and steady shear viscosity of nanotube-in-oil dispersions. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of these dispersions correlate with each other and vary with the size of large scale agglomerates, or clustered nanoparticles, in the fluids. Fluids with large scale agglomerates have high thermal conductivities. Dispersion energy, applied by sonication, can decrease agglomerate size, but also breaks the nanotubes, decreasing both the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanotube dispersions. Developing practica...

Thermal and rheological properties of carbon nanotube-in-oil dispersions

Temperature effects on the rheological properties of carbon nanotube-in-oil dispersions

Dispersions containing nanoparticles (nanofluids) are mixtures with unique properties, and their transport properties depend on the three-dimensional network or microstructure of the nanoparticles, which can be affected by various factors including shear stress, particle loading, and temperature. In this research, we studied the rheological behaviors of dispersions containing two different carbon morphologies: multiwalled carbon nanotubes (rodlike nanoparticles with L/D = 30), and graphite particles (disklike nanoparticles with L/D = 0.025). All nanofluids showed shear thinning behavior in steady shear measurements and those containing nanotubes had lower power law indices than graphite dispersions. Shear stress broke down the microstructure network and oriented both rodlike and disklike nanoparticles in the dispersions. The presence of a modest amount of nanotubes in the graphite nanofluid affected the microstructure of the dispersion and caused a remarkable decrease in its power law index. Microstructures of nanofluids strongly depended on the dispersant chemistry used to stabilize the particles, and high temperature may cause dispersant failure. Mechanical methods for dispersing the particles affected the geometry of the nanoparticles and therefore the rheological properties of the nanofluids. In the creep recovery tests, the compliance of graphite nanofluids quickly returned to zero when the stress was removed, while nanotube dispersion with high nanotube loading showed an elastic response during recovery. These results suggest that the microstructure in the dispersions is affected by nanoparticle morphology, dispersant chemistry, and shear stress.

Z. George Zhang

Papers

Heat transfer properties of nanoparticle-in-fluid dispersions (nanofluids) in laminar flow

Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Liquids

Thermal and rheological properties of carbon nanotube-in-oil dispersions

Temperature effects on the rheological properties of carbon nanotube-in-oil dispersions

Rheological behavior of carbon nanotube and graphite nanoparticle dispersions.