Review of interfacial layer’s effect on thermal conductivity in nanofluid

• DOI: 10.1007/s00231-016-1963-6
• Publication Date: 2017-05-25T21:51:50Z
• Authors: Ankit Kotia; Sheeba Borkakoti; Piyush Deval; Subrata Kumar Ghosh
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

An ordered liquid layer around the particle–liquid interface is called as interfacial layer. It has been observed that interfacial layer is an essential parameter for determining the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The review attempts to summarize the prominent articles related to interfacial layer effect on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. First section of the paper discusses about various experimental approaches used to describe the effect of interfacial layer. Second section deals with about the mathematical models and assumed values regarding the thickness of interfacial layer by several authors. A review of previous works featuring mathematical investigations and experimental approaches seem to be suggesting that, interfacial layer have dominating effect on the effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluids. Third section of the paper deals with various mathematical models available in open literature for interfacial layer thermal conductivity. In the last section, models for effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluids considering the interfacial layer and percentage deviations in the predictions of mathematical models have been discussed.