Abstract
Understanding the internal structure of composite nanofluids is critical for controlling their properties and engineering advanced composite nanofluid systems for various applications. This goal can be made possible by precise analysis with the help of a systematic robust platform. Here, we demonstrate a microfluidic device that can control the orientation of carbon nanomaterials in a suspension by applying external fields and subsequently examine the electrochemical properties of the fluids at microscale. Composite nanofluids were prepared using carbon nanomaterials, and their rheological, thermal, electrical, and morphological characteristics were examined. The analysis revealed that microfluidic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the device offered more reliable in-depth information regarding the change in the microstructure of carbon composite nanofluids than typical bulk measurements. Equivalent circuit modelling was performed based on the EIS results. Furthermore, the hydrodynamics and electrostatics of the microfluidic platform were numerically investigated. We anticipate that this microfluidic approach can serve as a new strategy for designing and analyzing composite nanofluids more efficiently.
Highlights
Carbon nanomaterials have been extensively studied and are regarded as fascinating generation matter for a wide range of applications including nanotechology, biotechnology, energy, and environment[15,16,17,18,19]
The orientation behavior of the carbon nanomaterials in the microfluidic devices under external fields including penitential and flow fields can be estimated with the help of numerical simulation
We developed a microfluidic device that can control the orientation of carbon nanomaterials and analyze the electrochemical properties of composite nanofluids from a microscopic perspective
Summary
Carbon nanomaterials have been extensively studied and are regarded as fascinating generation matter for a wide range of applications including nanotechology, biotechnology, energy, and environment[15,16,17,18,19]. Carbon nanomaterials in a suspension are oriented along the electric and magnetic fields applied externally, leading to significant enhancement of the electrochemical and physical performance of the suspension[23,24,25,26]. The graphene edge has much higher specific capacitance but lower electrical and thermal conductivities than the graphene basal plane[28]. In this sense, controlling the orientation of carbon nanomaterials is important to engineer material systems in a more active manner[29,30,31,32,33,34]. We develop a microfluidic platform that can apply external stimuli and simultaneously analyze the electrochemical properties of a composite suspension at microscale. The orientation and microstructure of the carbon nanomaterials in the fluids were microscopically controlled with the help of an electric field and a shear field and the resulting change in the electrochemical impedance was examined
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