%0 Journal Article
%A Ravi S Prasher
%A Prajesh Bhattacharya
%A Patrick E Phelan
%B Phys. Rev. Lett.
%D 2005
%G eng
%P 025901
%R 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.025901
%T Thermal conductivity of nanoscale colloidal solutions (nanofluids)
%V 94
%X <p>Researchers have been perplexed for the past five years with the unusually high thermal conductivity (k) of nanoparticle-laden colloidal solutions (nanofluids). Although various mechanisms and models have been proposed in the literature to explain the high k of these nanofluids, no concrete conclusions have been reached. Through an order-of-magnitude analysis of various possible mechanisms, we show that convection caused by the Brownian movement of these nanoparticles is primarily responsible for the enhancement in k of these colloidal nanofluids.</p>