Improving stability and thermal properties of TiO2 nanofluids by supramolecular modification: high energy efficiency heat transfer medium for data center cooling system

As a hardware carrier for informatization development, data centers will generate huge heat flux density during operation. Liquid cooling technology is considered as a thermal management method to solve this problem. The development of heat transfer fluids is of paramount importance. In this experiment, TiO 2 nanoparticles were successfully modified by supramolecular β-CD, and the corresponding nanofluids were prepared by using the modified nanoparticles. The experimental results show that the nanofluids can be stabilized for more than 50 days, and the average particle diameter of the nanoparticles can be maintained at 38.9 nm after 50 days. At 60 °C, the thermal conductivity of the 0.1 vol% nanofluids is increased by 36.01% compared with the base fluid, and the thermal diffusivity is increased by 58.28%. At a heating rate of 10 °C/min, the average specific heat capacity of the nanofluids is 3.15 times of the air. These results indicate that the heat transfer fluid has tremendous heat transfer potential in data center cooling system applications.