Influence of cerium oxide nanoparticles on thermal conductivity of antifreeze

The objective of this work was to examine the thermal conductivity of a stable nano-antifreeze containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide coated cerium (IV) oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs). The considered base fluid is a mixture of 50:50 ethylene glycol (EG) and deionized water. The morphology and structure of the samples are characterized with X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The experiments are done in the volume concentration range of 0.1–0.9%, CNT volume concentration range of 0.015–0.135% and the temperature range of 20–50 °C. The thermal conductivity (TC) of the prepared nanofluid samples was measured using a KD2-Pro thermal properties analyzer. The outcomes showed that boosting the temperature and the solid volume concentration causes an increase in the thermal conductivity ratio of the CeO2/EG–water nanofluid. The findings also indicated that the TC of CeO2/EG–water nanofluid augments up to 36.13% at volume concentration of 0.135% and 50 °C. Furthermore, it was depicted that the use of CeO2 NPs lead to a higher TC compared to other NPs in the same base fluid. Finally, a new correlation was proposed for predicting the TC and thermal conductivity enhancement of CeO2/EG–water in terms of nanoparticle concentration and temperature.