Studies on the Functional Properties of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Distributed in Silyl–Alkyl Bridged Polyaniline-Based Nanofluids

Abstract

In the present work, a new kind of nanocomposite (NC)-based solid component was prepared for formulating nanofluids (NFs). The NC comprised metal oxide (titanium dioxide, TiO2) dispersed in a conducting polymer with polyaniline (PANI) and chemically linked silyl–alkyl units in it (PSA) that were designated as T-PSA NC. The NFs with ethylene glycol (EG) as a base fluid were prepared with T-PSA NCs with various compositions of TiO2 and PSA as well for various concentrations of T-PSA NCs. The scanning electron microscopic evaluation of the NC revealed that PSA deposition on TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) decreased particle agglomeration. The PSA coating on the TiO2 NPs did not influence the crystalline structure of the TiO2 NPs, according to the X-ray diffraction patterns. The thermophysical characterization and molecular interaction features of the NFs at 303 K including a novel inorganic–organic T-PSA NC, were detailed. Furthermore, the stability of the T-PSA NC-based NFs was investigated experimentally using the zeta potential, and the particle size distribution change was analyzed using the dynamic light scattering (DLS) method. The T-PSA NCs had particle sizes that were significantly bigger than pristine PSA and pure TiO2. Most of the preparation conditions used to produce the T-PSA NCs resulted in moderately stable suspensions in EG. The results revealed that the ultrasonic velocity increased with the increase in the concentration of T-PSA NC mass % in the NFs, the refractive index and thermal conductivity increased with the increase in the concentration, and the surface tension exhibited a linear change when the ratio of mass % concentration of the T-PSA NCs increased. The combined presence of components that synergistically contribute to the electro, thermal, optical, and rheological properties is expected to attract advanced applications for NFs.