STTR Phase I: Nanofluids for Improved Thermal Management

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer Research Phase I project seeks to develop advanced heat transfer fluids using nano-structured carbons. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with a thermal conductivity of ~2000 W/m-K, are proposed at loadings which do not sacrifice fluid flow and viscosity. Nanofluids will be fabricated by tailoring the CNFs structure and surface functionalities to meet the above specifications. If successfully commercialized, Nanofluids will make significant energy efficiency and cost reduction gains for air conditioning, and will be useful for cooling of under-the-hood electronics of hybrid electric and electric vehicles and high power microelectronic devices.