Effectively inhibiting particles aggregation and sedimentation for TiO₂-H₂O suspension by application of an electrode

Abstract

Inhibiting particles aggregation plays a crucial role in maintaining the stability of nanofluids. In this work, applying a rod electrode was developed to reduce particles aggregation and sedimentation for TiO₂-H₂O suspensions. The experimental results show that the aggregation and sedimentation of TiO₂ particles are effectively suppressed when a rod electrode is inserted into the TiO₂-H₂O suspensions due to the increase of the absolute value of particle zeta potential. There is an optimal electric voltage (0.5 kV) to achieve the maximum suppression of sedimentation, while surface flaw of the electrode is harmful to suppress sedimentation. The mechanism for inhibition of sedimentation by the electrode is speculated that the charges transfer between the electrode and the TiO₂ nanoparticles by the contact electrification. Therefore, the application of the electrode with the optimal design has great potential for improving the stability of the TiO₂-H₂O nanofluids.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Rod electrode
• TiO₂- H₂O suspension
• aggregation
• sedimentation
• zeta potential

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the support from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51706038) and The Project of Jilin Provincial Excellent Youth Talents Fund (No. 20190103059JH).