Anomalous behavior of liquid molecules near solid nanoparticles; Novel interpretation on thermal conductivity enhancement in nanofluids

Hashimoto, Shunsuke*; Yamaguchi, Satoshi*; Harada, Masashi*; Nakajima, Kenji  ; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*  ; Oishi, Kazuki*

Recently, it has been reported that anomalous improvement in the thermal conductivity of nanofluid composed of base liquids and dispersed solid nanoparticles, compared to the theoretically predicted value calculated from the particle fraction. Generally, the thermal conductivity values of gases and liquids are dominated by the mean free path of the molecules during translational motion. Herein, we present solid evidence showing the possible contribution of the vibrational behavior of liquid molecules around nanoparticles to increasing these thermal conductivities.