Thermophysical and electrokinetic properties of nanofluids – A critical review

In the past decade, nanofluids have attracted much interest because of their reported superior thermal performance and many potential applications. However, there are many inconsistencies in reported experimental results of the thermophysical properties such as the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids and controversies in the underlying enhanced mechanisms. In this paper, various aspects of nanofluids including synthesis, potential applications, experimental and analytical studies on the effective thermal conductivity, effective thermal diffusivity, convective heat transfer, and electrokinetic properties are critically reviewed.