Application of metallic nanoparticle suspensions in advanced cooling systems

In the development of energy-efficient heat transfer fluids that are required in many cooling applications, low thermal conductivity is a primary limitation. However, it is well known that at room temperature, metals in solid form have orders-of-magnitude higher thermal conductivities than those of fluids. Therefore, the thermal conductivities of fluids that contain suspended solid metallic particles are expected to be significantly enhanced over those of conventional heat transfer fluids. In fact, numerous theoretical and experimental studies of the effective thermal conductivity of dispersions that contain solid particles have been conducted since Maxwell`s theoretical was published more than 100 years ago. However, all of the studies on thermal conductivity of suspensions have been confined to millimeter- or micrometer-sized particles