A new polymer additive for long-term stable oil-based nanofluids with carbon nanoparticles that enhances thermal conductivity and retains electrical resitivity

A polymer additive prevents the agglomeration of nanoparticles and thus enables the preparation of stable nanofluids. Carbon-based nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes and graphene are characterised by high thermal conductivity, which enables the preparation of nanofluids with increased thermal conductivity and improved heat transfer. However, the addition of carbon fillers reduces the electrical volume resistivity of nanofluids. Therefore, efforts are underway to prepare nanofluids with high (improved) thermal conductivity and maintained (or improved) electrical resistivity of the base fluid to enable the application of such nanofluids in transformers (or the electrical industry).

With this innovation, a polymer additive that enables the preparation of stable nanofluids with carbon-based nanoparticles was synthesised, while the thermal conductivity is increased by up to 42% with addition of carbon-based nanoparticles. Moreover, when a polymer additive was added, the prepared nanofluids mentioned the electrical volume resistivity of the base fluid, regardless of the concentration of the added nanoparticles.