Synthesis and characterization of copper nanofluid by a novel one-step method

Abstract

This paper presents a novel one-step method for the preparation of stable, non-agglomerated copper nanofluids by reducing copper sulphate pentahydrate with sodium hypophosphite as reducing agent in ethylene glycol as base fluid by means of conventional heating. This is an in situ, one-step method which gives high yield of product with less time consumption. The characterization of the nanofluid is done by particle size analyzer, X-ray diffraction topography, UV–vis analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) followed by the study of thermal conductivity of nanofluid by the transient hot wire method.