Enhancing thermal conductivity of water/CeO2-MWCNTs hybrid nanofluid: experimental insights and artificial neural network modeling

Water/CeO2-MWCNTs hybrid (NF) is a novel type of NF that has potential applications in heat transfer and thermal energy storage. However, the thermal conductivity (ThC) of this NF is not well understood. In this study, we aim to estimate the stability and investigate the ThC of water/CeO2-MWCNTs hybrid NF experimentally. We prepared the NF by dispersing CeO2-MWCNTs nanoparticles in deionized water using ultrasonication spanning 5–30 min. We measured the ThC of the NF at different temperatures and concentrations using a transient hot-wire method. Assessment of hybrid NF stability involved measurements of zeta potential and particle size distribution through dynamic light scattering (DLS). Meanwhile, ThC assessments were conducted across different solid volume fractions (0.007 ≤ SVF ≤ 0.112