Effect of 1D Cu Nanostructures on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Single Phase Microchannel Heat Sink

This study experimentally assesses single phase heat transfer characteristics of a shallow rectangular microchannel heat sink whose surface is enhanced with copper nanowires (CuNWs). The hydraulic diameter of the channel is 672 μm and the bottom wall is coated with Cu nanowires (CuNWs) of 200 nm in diameter and 50 μm in length. CuNWs are grown on the Cu heat sink by electrochemical synthesis technique which is inexpensive and readily scalable. The heat transfer and pressure drop results of CuNWs enhanced heat sink are compared with that of bare copper heat sink using deionized (DI) water as the working fluid at Reynolds Number (Re) ranging from 106–636. The experimental results indicate an enhancement in Nusselt Number (Nu) at all Re with a maximum enhancement of 24% at Re = 106. The enhanced thermal performance is attributed to two properties of Cu nanowire arrays — improvement in surface wettability characteristics and increased heat transfer surface area.