Nanotubes in liquids: Effective thermal conductivity

Abstract

The thermal conductivities of nanotube and liquid dispersions are described with a simple physical model without any adjustable parameters. The geometric model uses periodic lattices with equal surface-to-surface distances between the nanotubes and their nearest neighbors in all directions. A combination of series model in the direction of the thermal gradient and a parallel model perpendicular to it is used along with averaging over all orientations to derive an effective bulk thermal conductivity. This model closely matches the experimental data to date.