Silver Nanowires Contained Nanofluids with Enhanced Optical Absorption and Thermal Transportation Properties

Dahai Zhu, Guiwen Huang, Liye Zhang, Yan He*, Huaqing Xie, Wei Yu*

https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12027

Abstract

Two kinds of silver nanowires (100 nm in diameter, 20 μm and 100 μm in length) are prepared. The thermo‐physical characteristics, viscosity, and photothermal conversion performance of the silver nanowires (AgNWs) contained ethylene glycol nanofluids are investigated in detail. It is found that thermal conductivity of 100 μm AgNWs contained nanofluids is higher than that of 20 μm AgNWs with the same diameters of 100 nm. Viscosity test shows that the nanofluid is a Newtonian fluid, and the longer silver nanowires, the greater viscosity. In addition, photothermal conversion efficiency of silver nanowires contained nanofluid is studied. We can observe that the 100 μm AgNWs contained nanofluid has a higher photothermal conversion efficiency than that containing 20 μm AgNWs. Moreover, we find that there is a certain correlation between heat transfer and photothermal conversion of nanofluid. It demonstrates that the high heat transfer property of nanofluid will benefit for its photothermal conversion efficiency and the mechanism is proposed. This work provides a new idea to improve photothermal conversion efficiency. We can choose materials with high thermal conductivity and strong light absorption ability to enhance the photothermal conversion performance of nanofluids.