Electrical conductivity of water-based palladium nanofluids

Although the thermal conductivities and viscosities of nanofluids have been widely measured, relatively few studies concerning their electrical conductivity have been reported. Stable nanofluids consisting of palladium nanoparticles, with a mean particle size of 5.63 nm, were dispersed in distilled water with volume fractions between 0.00 and 1.00 vol%. The palladium nanoparticles were prepared using a reduction method in the presence of ultrasound waves and characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The electrical conductivity of the nanofluids of palladium nanoparticles in distilled water was measured both as a function of palladium loading and temperature and was found to increase with increasing NP volume fraction and temperature. A 75.67 % increase in the electrical conductivity of distilled water was achieved by NP loading of 1 vol% at 25 °C. It was observed that increasing temperature has a much greater effect on electrical conductivity enhancement than increasing palladium loading.