Laser ablated silicon nanoparticles with selected solvents: A comparison of thermal diffusivity under different concentrations

Abstract In the present work, the basic optical characterisation and thermal diffusivity studies of silicon nanofluid were carried out by mode-matched dual-beam thermal lens technique. The silicon nanoparticles were synthesised in ethanol, water, DMSO, and ethylene glycol by pulsed laser ablation process using Q-switched Nd: YAG nanosecond laser of wavelength of 1064 nm. The concentration dependence of thermal diffusivity was examined for the prepared silicon nanofluids. A decreasing trend for the thermal diffusivity was found with the increasing concentration of silicon in nanofluid in each solvent. These declining traits in heat diffusivity of silicon nanofluid can be explored for thermal trapping applications such as thermal insulators.