Development of water-based CuO/GO/MWCNT ternary nanofluid and comparative study of thermal conductivity and viscosity with CuO, GO, MWCNTs mono nanofluids

Herein, we presented the preparation strategies of water-based CuO, GO, MWCNTs mono fluid and copper oxide/graphene oxide/multiwall carbon nanotube (CuO/GO/MWCNT) ternary nanofluid. Before preparation of mono and ternary nanofluids, the used nanomaterials were characterized via XRD and FE-SEM to examine the structural and morphological properties. The water-based mono-fluids, CuO (0.1–0.5 wt%), GO (0.05–0.25 wt%), MWCNT (0.05–0.25 wt%), and ternary fluid CuO/GO/MWCNT (0.05–0.25 wt%) were prepared via two step-method. The experimental study exhibits the thermal conductivity of mono and ternary nanofluids strongly influenced by both parameters i.e. volume concentrations (φ) and temperature. Comparatively, thermal conductivity of ternary fluids drastically enhanced than the mono fluids for same volume concentration and temperature. It is observed that thermal conductivity enhanced as compared to base fluid (water) from 5.53 to 15.49% in CuO nanofluid for 0.1–0.5 wt%, 18.35–30.38% in GO nanofluid for 0.05–0.25 wt%, 10.9–38.65% for in MWCNTs nanofluid for 0.05–0.25 wt% and 27.30–50% in CuO/GO/MWCNTs nanofluid for 0.05–0.25 wt% concentration. As viscosity study of the mono and ternary nanofluid affected by volume concentrations and temperatures. For the increasing temperature decreases the viscosity, whereas increases the viscosity with increased volume concentration in base fluid. The experimental results were shown that the thermal conductivity and viscosity of ternary fluids exhibit the better performance than the mono fluids. Thus, the ternary fluids CuO/GO/MWCNT can be highly suitable for the thermal management system in practical applications with very lower volume concentration in base fluid. (author)