Gallium–indium nanoparticles as phase change material additives for tunable thermal fluids

Abstract

Inorganic Ga–In alloy nanoparticles suspended in a traditional thermal transport fluid simultaneously increase the overall thermal diffusivity of the fluid and serve as a cyclable solid–liquid PCM slurry, providing a thermal sink definable over a wide temperature range.

Applications of liquid metals in nanotechnology

“…244 LM nanocomposites and nanodroplets were also investigated as thermal pathways for heat dissipation. 2,29,108,110,245,246 For example, a EGaIn LM soft micro/ nanocomposite with high maximum strain (B600%) exhibited exceptional thermal conductivity. 2 The thermal conductivity was shown to increase to a metal-like conductivity under strain due to the deformation of the LM droplets forming thermally conductive pathways in the stretching direction.…”

Critical Review on the Physical Properties of Gallium-Based Liquid Metals and Selected Pathways for Their Alteration

“…Sample size reduction affords nucleant isolation; viz., there is a lower probability a nucleant is in a given volume, thus terminating undercooling prematurely . Upon reaching the nanoscale size, the thermodynamics of the system changes as interface-related terms of the excess thermodynamic potentials become important or even dominant, resulting in the fact that nanoscopic alloys do not obey a simple eutectic phase diagram of a bulk alloy . Even for the pure liquid metal, changes are observed.…”

“…189 Upon reaching the nanoscale size, the thermodynamics of the system changes as interface-related terms of the excess thermodynamic potentials become important or even dominant, resulting in the fact that nanoscopic alloys do not obey a simple eutectic phase diagram of a bulk alloy. 288 Even for the pure liquid metal, changes are observed. Liquid gallium does not crystallize in the thermodynamically favorable α-phase, but in the nanometer scale, β-, γ-, and δ-phases with melting temperatures (bulk) of −16.2, −35.6, and −19.4 °C, 289 respectively, have been found.…”

Sonochemical synthesis of supersaturated Ga–Al liquid-alloy fine particles and Al3+-doped γ-Ga2O3 nanoparticles by direct oxidation at near room temperature

“…γ-Ga 2 O 3 obtained from liquid Ga NPs showed endothermic peaks at −17.1 °C and −36.0 °C. Ga NPs showed endothermic peaks in the range from −40 °C to −20 °C [27] . The γ-Ga 2 O 3 obtained herein contains unreacted liquid Ga that was not oxidized.…”