Synthesis and Investigation of New Nanofluid Properties Using Modified Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Cooling Applications

Thermal management plays a critical factor in many applications where these fluids can be used, such as in motors/engines, solar cells, biopharmaceuticals, fuel cells, etc. These insulating fluids require superb filler dispersion, high thermal conduction, and for certain applications as in electrical/electronic devices also electrical insulation. Recent advances in layered materials enable large scale synthesis of various two dimensional (2D) structures to be used as the nanofiller in these fluids. Among them, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is highly stable dielectric nanofiller that has high thermal conductivity and is the softest one among the other BN forms. This study focuses on synthesis and characterization of functionalized h-BN with hexadecylamine (HDA) in order to provide compatibility and a good dispersion of h-BN nanosheets in oil-based nanofluid. In addition, the specific nano-oil properties such as stability, thermal conductivity, viscosity, insulator breakdown voltage, dissipation factor and pour point were also investigated.

Nanofluid, Hexagonal Boron Nitride, Thermal conductivity, Electrical resistivity