Nanofluid Boiling Heat Transfer and Critical Heat Flux Enhancement: Mechanism to Be Revealed

As a novel strategy to improve heat transfer characteristics of fluids by the addition of solid particles with diameters below 100 nm, nanofluids exhibits unprecedented heat transfer properties and are being considered as potential working fluids to be used in high heat flux systems such as nuclear reactors, electronic cooling systems and solar collectors. The present paper reviews the state-of-the-art studies on nanofluid boiling heat transfer performance and critical heat flux (CHF) enhancement. It is found that some results on nanofluids boiling heat transfer performance are inconsistent or contradictory in data published. The knowledge on the mechanism of nanofluids boiling CHF enhancement is insufficient. Bubble dynamics of nanofluids boiling is suggested to be investigated to identify the exact contributions of solid surface modifications and suspended nanoparticles to CHF enhancement in nanofluids boiling heat transfer.