Heat- and mass-transport in aqueous silica nanofluids

Using the transient hot wire and pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance methods we determined the thermal conductivity and the solvent self-diffusion coefficient (SDC) in aqueous suspensions of quasi-monodisperse spherical silica nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity was found to increase at higher volume fraction of nanoparticles in accordance with the effective medium theory albeit with a smaller slope. On the other hand, the SDC was found to decrease with nanoparticle volume fraction faster than predicted by the effective medium theory. These deviations can be explained by the presence of an interfacial heat-transfer resistance and water retention by the nanoparticles, respectively. We found no evidence for anomalous enhancement in the transport properties of nanofluids reported earlier by other groups.