Thermal conductivity enhancement in water-in-FC72 nanoemulsion fluids

Abstract

The strategy of adding solid particles to fluids for improving thermal conductivity has been pursued for nearly a century. In this work, a concept of using liquid nanodroplets for enhancing thermal conductivity has been developed and was demonstrated in water-in-FC72 suspensions, called “nanoemulsion fluids.” The thermal conductivity of FC72 is found to be increased by up to 52% for a nanoemulsion fluid containing 12vol% water nanodroplets of radius 9.8nm. Such types of nanoemulsion fluids possess long-term stability and can be mass produced because of no needs for solid nanoparticles. The development of nanoemulsion fluids would open a direction for thermal fluids studies.