The effect of boiling in a thermosyphon on surface tension and contact angle of silica and graphene oxide nanofluids

Abstract

Thermosyphons are heat transfer devices characterised by high efficiency due to simultaneous phase changes occurring in the evaporation-condensation cycle of working fluid. One of the most promising solutions to enhance their heat transfer capacity of the device is the use of nanofluids – suspensions of particles with at least one dimension below 100 nm. It was determined that nanofluid does not influence the work of thermosyphons condenser section and the focus should be put on the boiling process in the evaporator section. During boiling, nanoparticles tend to deposit on the heater’s surface, what alters characteristics of this surface and near surface hydrodynamics. This changes the appearance of nanofluid, but the precise effect on how the deposition of particles affects the properties of nanofluid is unknown. Changes in surface tension and wettability affect boiling regimes (e.g. reduced surface tension reduces the size of departing bubbles and inhibits geysering), and efficiency of heat transfer through the device. Understanding of those parameters is crucial for the development of appropriate models describing heat transfer in thermosyphon working with nanofluids. The main goal of this study is to determine surface tension and contact angle of nanofluids based on silica nanoparticles and nano-sized graphene oxide flakes before and after the experimental boiling cycle in the thermosyphon. Results show that, in comparison with water, silica nanofluid (2 vol%) is characterised by lower surface tension and contact angles on both analysed surfaces. After-use silica nanofluid exhibited noticeably higher averaged surface tension and smaller contact angles in comparison to the fresh working medium. The change was most likely due to the decreased concentration caused by the deposition of nanoparticles during the thermosyphon operation. Still, the differences between before-use and after-use samples were smaller than the measurement uncertainties. Before-use graphene oxide nanofluid already showed surface tension and contact angle similar to water due to low concentration of graphene flakes (0.1 g/L). Consequently, the properties of after-use graphene oxide fluid were also not much different from water. Additional measurements of surface tension for graphene oxide nanofluid with and without addition of sodium dodecyl sulphate surfactant allowed to differentiate the effects caused by graphene flakes and surfactant. The surfactant reduced the surface tension of the nanofluid, but the change was smaller than in case of surfactant addition to pure water.