Tailoring nanofluid thermophysical profile through graphene nanoplatelets surface functionalization

Abstract

In this study, the effect of chemical surface functionalization through oxidation of exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets in the transport properties of their aqueous nanofluids has been analyzed. With this objective, thermal conductivity and viscoelastic properties have been determined for original and oxidized nanoplatelets. The results show that the functionalization completely changes the internal structure of the suspension, which is reflected in shifts of even orders of magnitude on viscosity, yield stress, or storage or loss moduli. It is evident that this influences thermal conduction properties as well, as it has been also demonstrated. This shows that nanostructure surface functionalization can be a useful strategy to tune nanofluid thermophysical properties.