Pool boiling heat transfer enhancement with copper nanowire arrays

• We investigated the effect of nanowire arrays on pool boiling heat transfer enhancement.
• Nanowires with five different lengths were electroplated on bare copper surface.
• We studied the influence of the length of copper nanowire arrays on HTC and CHF of boiling.
• We explored the physics of the boiling mechanism on nanostructure surfaces.

The pool boiling heat transfer on copper nanowire arrays has been experimentally studied. Five different copper nanowire arrays with various lengths (3 μm, 5 μm, 10 μm, 20 μm, and 30 μm) have been electroplated on bare smooth copper surfaces. Their pool boiling heat transfer performances were measured and compared with control surfaces. It is found that the integration of copper nanowire arrays on heating surface can effectively enhance the boiling heat transfer coefficient(HTC) as well as the critical heat flux(CHF). As the length of nanowires increases, more enhancements have been observed. This augment is due to the enhancement of the wettability and the number of the nucleation sites (defects).