Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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A state of the art review on viscosity of nanouids MARK

a, b
S.M. Sohel Murshed , Patrice Estell
a
Centro de Qumica Estrutural, Faculdade de Cincias, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
b
LGCGM EA3913, Equipe Matriaux et Thermo-Rhologie Universit Rennes 1, 35704 Rennes cedex 7, France

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: A comprehensive review of research and development on rheological characteristics of nanouids for their
Nanouids advanced heat transfer applications is performed and reported in this paper. It identies the research anomaly
Nanoparticles and importance on this topic besides analysing rheology of nanouids. Various classical and recently developed
Viscosity viscosity models for nanouids are presented and discussed. Nanouids are classied as metallic and
Rheology
nonmetallic types and research ndings on this key property of available nanouids are analyzed. Eects of
Thermal applications
several important factors such as concentration of nanoparticles and temperature on viscosity of each type of
nanouids have been explicitly reviewed. Results from various research groups and predictions from viscosity
models are also compared and discussed in detail. Role and importance of the viscosity in connection with other
thermal properties and parameters for their thermal management applications are highlighted. Furthermore,
the research challenges and needs in this important area of nanouids are also revealed.

1. Introduction thermal conductivity (56%) followed by viscosity (24%). Nevertheless,

Nanouids have potential applications in many important elds
such as in advanced heat transfer or cooling technologies, energy
harvesting, microelectronics, micro-electromechanical systems, micro-
uidics, transportation, medical, and numerous thermal management
systems [17]. Thus, this recent class of uids has become a research
topic of immense interest worldwide. Due to reported (mostly from
early research works) anamoulouly high thermophysical properties and
highlighted potential benets compared to conventional uids as well
as suspensions of microparticles, researchers have mainly focused on
determination of thermal properties, particularly thermal conductivity
of nanouids [717]. On the other hand, viscosity is also a very
important property of uids especially for their practical applications
related to uid ow and heat transfer. For instance, the understanding
of convective heat transfer and pumping power in ow systems are
directly related to the viscosity of the uids. However, compared to the
extensive studies on thermal conductivity, researchers have not paid
much attention on viscosity of nanouids. This can be evidenced from
recent growth of annual publications on nanouids depicted in Fig. 1
which is generated from the records of publications searched by topic
nanouids and then rened by terms thermal conductivity and
viscosity in Web of Science on November 24, 2015. Publications
include all types of journal and conference articles, patents, news,
letters and others recorded in Web of Science. Fig. 1 reveals that the
major share of the reported publications on nanouids belongs to the
there is a slight increase in research on viscosity of nanouids in recent
years as can be evidenced from Fig. 1.
Nanouids (NF) exhibit signicantly higher viscosity compared to
their base uids and it further increases with increasing concentration
of nanoparticles (NP). The existing classical models are unable to
predict the viscosity results of nanouids. On the other hand, all
recently proposed empirical correlations are obtained by tting their
own experimental results and are neither widely accepted nor suitable
for other types of nanouids [1821]. Also, numerous surveys of
literature data on viscosity of nanouids revealed a considerable
scattering and inconsistency [2026]. Even for the same nanouids,
the viscosity results from dierent research groups vary noticeably
which will also be discussed in later sections. Nonetheless, such
inconsistency and scattered results could be due to various issues such
as use of dierent size and purity of nanoparticles, use of dierent
measurement equipment or geometry, shear rate range considered,
scale of agglomeration, and dierent dispersion and sample prepara-
tion methods. Furthermore, among the studies, the eect of concen-
tration of nanoparticles on viscosity of nanouids has been investigated
most. Besides nanoparticles concentration, it is also important to study
the eects of other factors such as temperature, base uids, dispersion,
and particle size, type and shape on the viscosity of nanouids in order
to exploit their potential in a wide range of applications.
Despite their high viscosity, most nanouids demonstrate better
heat transfer than the conventional heat transfer uids used as base

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: smmurshed@ciencias.ulisboa.pt (S.M.S. Murshed).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.113
Received 28 August 2016; Received in revised form 1 February 2017; Accepted 23 March 2017
1364-0321/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
Fig. 1. Year-wise publications records on dierent areas of nanouids from Web of
Science.
uids. Through a thermal and hydraulic analysis, Prasher et al. [27]
showed that the relative increase in the viscosity has to be around four
times larger than the relative increase in thermal conductivity for
nanouids to be better than the base liquid in heat transfer applications
under laminar regime. This translates that if the thermal conductivity
of a certain nanouid increases 25% at a certain concentration of
nanoparticles, the increase in viscosity of that nanouid at that
concentration should be within 100% in order for its heat transfer
performance to be superior to the base uid alone. Although nanouids
exhibit higher viscosity compared to their base uids, other signi-
cantly enhanced thermal properties and features such as thermal
conductivity, heat transfer coecient, and critical boiling heat ux
can fully compensate that drawback, making this class of uids a strong
candidate for the next-generation of coolants [1,57,27].
The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of
research ndings and development on viscosity of nanouids. With this
goal, the research anomaly and analysis of this important topic in the
practical use of nanouids are identied. Classical and recently
proposed viscosity models for nanouids are rst presented and
discussed. Then, nanouids are classied as metallic and nonmetallic
types and research ndings on viscosity of these nanouids are
analyzed. Eects of several important factors such as concentration
and size of nanoparticles and temperature on viscosity of each type of
nanouids are explicitly reviewed. Results from various research
groups and predictions from viscosity models are also compared and
discussed in detail. Finally, the paper also reveals the challenges and
research needs in this key area of nanouids.
2. Rheological behavior of nanouids
Rheology of a nanouid is very important as it identies its ow
nature and aects the pressure drop in ow systems. Thus it is crucial
to accurately determine the rheological behavior of nanouids, which
can be obtained from the relationship between shear rate and shear
stress or apparent viscosity. It is known that for Newtonian nature, the
shear stress exhibits linear relation and the apparent viscosity remains
constant with shear rate. On the other hand, uids that yield shear
rate-dependent apparent viscosity or nonlinear relation between the
shear rate and shear stress are non-Newtonian.
Studies on rheology of nanouids demonstrate that these uids can
have both Newtonian and non-Newtonian ow natures depending on
number of factors and conditions [3,13,19,2226]. Some of the notable
factors include nanoparticle concentration, temperature, base uids
uidity, shear rate and stress as well as type and size of nanoparticles.
For instance, a nanouid at a low concentration exhibits Newtonian
nature but at a dierent concentration (e.g., higher concentration) it
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
Fig. 2. Literature data on viscosity with shear rate of Newtonian nanouids at room
temperature.
shows non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior. Even surfactants can
also play a role in altering the rheology of nanouids [2831].
Fig. 2 depicts some representative results on rheological nature of
various types of nanouids, which showed a wide range of shear rate-
independent viscosity demonstrating their Newtonian nature. On the
other hand, Fig. 3 shows shear rate-dependent apparent viscosity of
various nanouids conrming their non-Newtonian ow characteris-
tics. Some of the important rheological ndings from the literature are
elaborated here.
In 1998, Pak and Cho studied hydrodynamic and heat transfer
characteristics of two nanouids and found their aqueous TiO2 and
Al2O3 nanouids to be Newtonian at low particles concentration [32].
They also detected non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior of these
nanouids at higher concentration of nanoparticles. Both TiO2 and
Al2O3 nanouids exhibited shear thinning behavior at or above 10 vol%
and 3 vol% concentrations of these nanoparticles, respectively.
However, Tseng and Wu [38] reported a transition from the shear-
thinning to shear-thickening behavior at a shear rate of about 100 s1
for their aqueous Al2O3 nanouids.
In a convective heat transfer study of surfactant added aqueous
CNT nanouids, Ding et al. [28] reported linear shear thinning
behavior of their nanouids whereas their base uid (W+gum arabic)
showed nonlinear shear thinning nature.
Hong et al. [41] found that their Fe3O4/water nanouid was
Newtonian at low particle concentration but exhibited shear thickening
Fig. 3. Literature data on viscosity with shear rate of non-Newtonian nanouids at room
temperature.
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
behavior followed by shear thinning for higher concentration.
Phuoc and Massoudi studied eects of shear rates and concentra-
tion on viscosity of aqueous Fe2O3 nanouids with two dierent
dispersants, which were Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene
oxide (PEO) [29]. They observed while this Fe2O3/W nanouid with
0.2% PVP and having nanoparticle volume fraction less than 0.02
behaved as a Newtonian uid, any further increase in nanoparticle
concentration (beyond 2 vol%) the nanouid became non-Newtonian
with shear-thinning behavior. Similar results were also found for the
nanouids containing 0.2 wt% PEO surfactant.
Chen et al. [36] investigated rheological behavior of titanate
nanotubes (TNT)/EG-based nanouids. Although at room temperature
and low concentration their nanouids exhibited Newtonian behavior,
at higher temperature ( > 30 C) and concentration ( > 2 wt%) nano-
uids were found to be highly shear thinning.
In 2010, an international round-robin benchmark exercise invol-
ving numbers of research laboratories from dierent countries was
carried out to investigate the viscosity of several aqueous and synthetic
oil based nanouids [42]. Alumina (rod and spherical shaped) and
silica (spherical shaped) nanoparticles were dispersed in three dierent
base uids. Another sample was Mn-Zn ferrite nanoparticles dispersed
in water (75 wt%) and [(CH3)4NOH] stabilizer (25 wt%). Results from
this exercise revealed that while some nanouids showed shear-
thinning behavior, other nanouids (e.g. Al2O3 (spherical)/Poly-alpha
olen (PAO) oil) exhibited Newtonian nature.
Phuoc et al. [43] found their aqueous CNT nanouids having
chitosan stabilizer behaved both like Newtonian and non-Newtonian.
For example, at shear rate of 200 s1 and low chitosan (0.1 wt%) and
CNT (0.5 wt%) concentrations the nanouids showed Newtonian
nature. However, when the concentrations of CNT and chitosan were
increased further, nanouids showed non-Newtonian behavior.
In a study on magnetorheological eect of Fe3O4TiO2 nanocom-
posite suspensions, Wei et al. [44] reported that at no magnetic eld
condition this nanouid departed slightly from Newtonian behavior
whereas it showed Bingham plastic behavior under magnetic eld.
Resiga et al. [45] studied rheological properties of highly concen-
trated transformer oil-based magnetic nanouids and found their
nanouids as Newtonians in all concentrations except at the highest
concentration of 20.8 vol%. Whereas, despite Newtonian nature of
polymer base uid (Poly(ethylene glycol), PEG), Moattar and Cegincara
[46] observed shear thinning nature of their magnetic nanouids.
Pastoriza-Gallego et al. [47] showed that their Fe2O3 (hematite)/EG
nanouids exhibited non-Newtonian shear thinning nature and was
also thixotropic at a certain shear rate.
A previous study on viscosity of silicone oil (SO) based TiO2 and
SiO2 nanouids conducted by Murshed et al. [33] demonstrated that
besides linear relationship between shear stress and shear rate, the
apparent shear viscosities of these nanouids were independent of
shear rate conrming Newtonian nature of these nanouids. Similar
shear rate independent viscosities (Newtonian) of SO-based treated
carbon nanotubes (TCNT)-nanouids was also reported by Chen and
Xie. [48]. In another study, Chen et al. [22] found their ethylene glycol
(EG) based TiO2 nanouids to be Newtonian as well. It is also noted
that at low shear rate (less than 100 s1) the same research group
previously reported a strong non-Newtonian behavior of aqueous
nanouid with the same TiO2 nanoparticles. [49] At low shear rates,
Newtonian behavior of silicone oil (Syltherm 800) based diamond-
graphene nanouid was observed by Yang et al. [50].
Recently, Li et al. [40] studied rheological behavior of SiC/EG-
based nanouids and found dierent ow characteristics at dierent
range of shear rates. For instance, the viscosity of nanouids having
low SiC concentration ( < 0.6 vol%) and higher shear rates (100
1000 s1) showed Newtonian behavior. However, above 0.6 vol% of
SiC and at lower shear rates ranging from 0.1 to 100 s1 the viscosity
decreased signicantly conrming a shear thinning behavior like a
typical non-Newtonian uid.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
3. Viscosity models for nanouids
Despite the growing number of research works recently been
conducted on viscosity of nanouids [9,23,26], very few studies have
focused on the development of theoretical models for the prediction of
viscosity of nanouids and no widely accepted model is yet available
that can accurately predict the viscosity of nanouids. Thus, research-
ers commonly use classical viscosity models and/or empirical models
proposed based on their own data. In this section, some representative
classical viscosity models are discussed followed by selected empirical
models, which were obtained by tting experimental viscosity data of
particular type(s) of nanouids.
3.1. Classical models
Among the classical viscosity models, the most popular is the
Einsteins model in which he considered a dilute suspension of
spherical particles that can be dened as an eective viscosity of
suspension (e) given by [51].
eff = f (1 + 2.5) (1)
where f is viscosity of base uid and is the volume fraction of
dispersed particles. These and other common symbols stand for the
same throughout and will not be repeated. Although this model is
widely and wrongly used for any concentrations (low to high) of hard
spherical particles, it is mainly valid for very low concentration of
particles, typically less than 1 vol%.
Hatschek [52] developed viscosity model for two phase systems
which is applicable for up to 40% concentration of solid particle and it
is expressed as:
eff = f (1 + 4.5) (2)
Brinkman [53] extended Einstein's model for the viscosity of even
less dilute suspensions of particles and his model has the form:
eff = f (1 )2.5 (3)
Roscoe [54] developed a viscosity model for suspensions of rigid
spheres of equal size and all concentrations (high to low) and it has the
form:
2.5
eff = f 1
m (4)
where for spheres of equal size, the relative maximum packing density
m 0.74, for a random loose packing is around 0.60, whereas for
spheres of very diverse sizes m cannot be greater than 0.93 and thus
for a polydisperse random sphere packing m0.87.
In 1974, Brenner and Condi developed a viscosity model con-
sidering the shape eects of rod-like particles in dilute suspension [55].
So, this model is dened for viscosity at high shear rate and applicable
for a volume fraction up to 1/r2.
eff = f (1 + ) (5)
with
0.312r 0.5 1.872
= +2
ln 2r 1.5 ln 2r 1.5 r (6)
where r is the aspect ratio of the particles.
Two years later, Jerey and Acrivos [56] also proposed another
model for the viscosity of non-dilute suspensions of rod-like particles in
extensional ow and it has the form:
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
4 r
eff = f 3 +
3 nf = f 1 + b
ln
This formula suggests that even though is small, the factor r2 can
produce substantial increases in relative viscosity (e/f) over the
Newtonian value of 3.
Batchelor [57] considered interactions between particles in dilute
suspension and modied the Einsteins model to
eff = f (1 + 2.5 + 6.2 )
Considering uniform spheres and zero inertial, Brownian motion,
Van der Waals, and electroviscous forces, Graham [58] developed an
eective viscosity model for the suspensions of solid sphere and it is
given by:
2.25 1 1
eff = f (1 + 2.5) +
[1 + (h /2a )] (h / a ) [1 + (h / a )] [1 + (h / a )]2
where h is the inter-particle spacing and a is the radius of the particle.
As the nanouids are mostly not dilute suspensions of nanoparti-
cles, it is considered that the power law-based models (e.g., Krieger and
Dougherty (K-D) [59]; Nielsen [60]) are more appropriate for the
prediction of the viscosity of nanouids compared to other models such
as those attributed to Einstein [51], Brinkman [53], and Batchelor [57].
Considering the possibility of some structure creation in disperse
systems, Krieger and Dougherty [59] developed a semi-empirical
power law-based expression for the eective viscosity of suspensions
containing any volumetric concentration of monodisperse spherical
particles and expressed it as:
[]m
eff = f 1
m (10)
where the intrinsic viscosity []=2.5 for hard spheres and the
maximum packing fraction m0.605 at high shear rates and it varies
between 0.495 and 0.54 under quiescent conditions. This equation
reduces to Maron-Pierce [61] equation with exponent []m=2.
Later, a generalized equation for the relative elastic moduli of
composite materials (also widely used for relative viscosity) was
proposed by Nielsen [60] and his power law-based model can be
expressed as:
eff = f (1 + 1.5)e 1 m
where similar to K-D model, m is the maximum packing fraction
which is approximately 0.64 for randomly dispersed spheres.
Except some of the power-law based models, most of the other
classical models were mainly developed by modifying, extending, or
following Einstein's model [51]. Nevertheless, researchers found all
these models are generally unable (under-predict) to predict the
measured viscosities of nanouids [19,26].
3.2. Empirical models proposed for nanouids
As mentioned before, except proposing empirical correlations
obtained by tting experimental results on viscosity of nanouids, no
eort has been devoted to develop a rigorous model for the prediction
of viscosity of nanouids. Among all empirical correlations available for
nanouids, some of the representative ones are presented in the
following. It should be mentioned that nf in the following expressions
is similar to e used in the models of the previous section.
A modied viscosity model for ceramic suspensions, which was
proposed by Noni et al. [62] depends on volume concentration of solid
particle and bidimensional balance of forces acting on particles in
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
suspension. It is expressed as:
n
1 m
(12)
(7)
where b and n are the empirical coecients which can be calculated by
least squares regression. For suspensions of Al2O3 (1.2 m) in water,
the values of coecients b and n were 1631 and 2.8, respectively. They
demonstrated that the empirical coecient b can be divided in two
contributions, one related to electromagnetic aspects and other related
to the mechanical-geometrical aspects [62]. Performing dimensional
(8) analysis, they also proposed an expression to determine this coecient
(b). Later, Chandrasekar et al. [63] also used Noni et al.s [62] model
with the same n value (2.8) and a xed value of coecient b=5300 for
their Al2O3 (43 nm)/water-based nanouids.
Tseng and Lin [37] studied the rheological characteristics of water-
based TiO2 nanouids and based on experimental data tting, they
1 proposed the following simple model:
(9) nf = f 13.47e35.98 (13)
Taking into account the eect of variable packing fraction within
the nanoparticles aggregates, Chen et al. [22] modied the Krieger
Dougherty [59] model and for spherical nanoparticles it is given as:
1.2 1.5125
aa
nf = f 1
0.605 a (14)
where aa and a are the aggregates and primary particles, respectively.
The terms (aa/a)1.2 is related to an eective volume fraction linked
to presence of aggregates, denoted by a. Its general form is
a 3 D
a = ( aa ) where the index D represents the fractal like structure of
aggregates. D mainly depends on primary shape of nanoparticles.
The same group [64] also reported the following viscosity correla-
tion obtained by regression of their experimental data for TiO2/EG
nanouids:
nf = f (1 + 10.6 + (10.6)2) (15)
For computing the viscosity of aqueous Al2O3 (47 nm) nanouids,
an Arrhenius type equation was introduced by Nguyen et al. [65,66]:
nf = f 0.904e 0.1483 (16)
They also proposed following two correlations for computing
viscosities of their Al2O3 (36 nm)/Water and CuO (29 nm)/water
(11) nanouids, respectively [65]:
nf = f (1 + 0.025 + 0.015 ) (17a)
nf = f (1.475 0.319 + 0.051 + 0.0093) (17b)
Chevalier et al. [67] found very good agreement with their experi-
mental viscosity data particularly for SiO2 (94 nm)/ethanol-based
nanouids using the modied Maron-Pierce formula which considered
sizes of both nanoparticles and their aggregates, as for the modied K-
D model, and is expressed as:
2
nf = f 1 a
m (18)
where also a=(aa/a)1.2, aa and a are the average diameters of
aggregates and particles, respectively and the maximum packing
fraction m is taken as 0.65. Similar relationship was successfully used
by Halelfadl et al. [34] and Estell [68] with aggregated CNT nanouids
taking also into consideration the aspect ratio of nanotubes in both the
determination of D and the maximum packing fraction.
For their SiO2 nanoparticles of 94 nm and aggregates of 195 nm,
the model of Chevalier et al. [67] can be simplied as
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S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

2
Using experimental viscosity results of silicone oil-based TiO2 and
nf = f 1 2.4 SiO2 nanouids, Murshed et al. [33] introduced an empirical correla-
m (19) tion, which has the form
Following Einsteins model [51] and linear t of their Newtonian
nf = 0 (A + BeCT ) (27)
Cu/EG nanouids viscosity data, Garg et al. [35] proposed a model,
which has the following form: where 0 is the reference viscosity (Pa.s) of base uids at room
nf = f (1 + 11) temperature and T is the temperature (C). The dimensionless empiri-
(20)
cal coecients A, B, and C in the correlation are function of
Williams et al. [69] proposed following two correlations obtained by nanoparticle types and concentration.
curve tting of their viscosity results of two types of nanouids Recently, Sharifpur et al. [74] proposed a model as a function of
for Al2O3/water based nanouid it is: particle concentration and both size and temperature that was obtained
using dimensional analysis and tting the experimental results of their
4.91
nf = f exp Al2O3glycerol nanouids. Their model has following form:
(0.2092 ) (21)
T d
and for ZrO2/water based nanouid it is: nf = f 1 + R[u]
T0 h
nf = f (1 + 46.8 + 550.82 ) (28)
(22)
where is the system parameter, [] is the intrinsic viscosity, d is the
It is noted that the applicable temperature range of these models
nanoparticle diameter, h is the thickness of the capping layer, and , ,
(Eqs. (21) and (22)) is between 20 C and 80 C with volumetric
and are tting coecients. Fitting results of their nanouids with this
loadings up to 6% for Al2O3 and up to 3% for ZrO2.
model, they reported the system parameter () and coecients (, ,
Based on tting experimental viscosity data, Kole and Dey [39]
and ) values to be 240.19, 0.807, 2.480 and 0.522, respectively [74].
introduced two models - one for the viscosity of their CuO/gear
As mentioned before and noticed from above presentation, most of
oil(GO)-based nanouids without incorporating the temperature and
these aforementioned equations are based on tting experimental
another is for the temperature-dependent shear viscosity and both are
results of specic type of nanouid and they are generally not suitable
expressed as follows:
for the prediction of viscosity of other types of nanouids [1926].
1.31.25 Therefore, in addition to some selected classical models, few recently
aa
nf = f 1 proposed viscosity correlations are employed in the following for
0.5 a (23) comparison of prediction and experimental results obtained from
and literature.

1000B
lnnf = A +
T+C (24)
where aa and a are the aggregates and primary particles, respectively,
as denoted before, and T is absolute temperature (in Kelvin). A, B, C
are the curve-t constants where A has the value of ln(nf) at the
innite temperature, B corresponds to the energy barrier associated
with the close packing of liquid molecules, and C is the absolute
temperature at which viscosity becomes innite.
The rst expression (Eq. (23)) of Kole and Dey [39] was also a
modied form of KriegerDougherty [59] model. Both these expres-
sions (Eqs. (23) and (24)) are very similar to the models previously
proposed by Chen et al. [22].
By tting literature viscosity data for dierent types of nanouids
containing spherical nanoparticles, Corcione [70] proposed the follow-
ing mean empirical correlation with a maximum deviation of 1.84%:
4. Experimental studies on viscosity of nanouids
4.1. Nanouids with metallic nanoparticles
Compared to studies on non-metallic nanouids (i.e., nanouids
containing nonmetallic nanoparticles), there are only a handful of
studies on the metallic nanouids in the literature. Possible reasons for
so few studies on metallic nanouids could be due to diculty in
dispersion and relatively higher price of metallic nanoparticles com-
pared to their oxide counter parts. Among various types of metallic
nanoparticles, copper (Cu) is more commonly used to prepare nano-
uids. Fig. 4 presents viscosity data of Cu nanouids as function of Cu
nanoparticle concentration. It can be seen that except Cu/2000 ppm
CTAC+NaSal nanouids at low shear rate [31], viscosities of other Cu
nanouids increase moderately with the concentration of nanoparti-

1
nf = f
0.3 1.03
1 34.87(dp / d f ) (25)
6M 1/3
where dp is the particle diameter, d f = 0.1 N is the equivalent
f
diameter of the base uid molecule, M is the molar mass of the base
uid, N is the Avogadro's number and f is the mass density of the base
uids at temperature of 293 K.
Choi et al. [71,72] employed following extension of Mooney's [73]
equation for spheres for the viscosity of their nanouids containing
dierent types of non-spherical nanoparticles (rod and plate-like
Fe2O3, CrO2, Ba-ferrite):
[ ]
lnnf / f =
1
m (26)
where [] is the intrinsic viscosity and m is the maximum packing
concentration of particles and both are determined by tting the
experimental data. Fig. 4. Viscosity of copper nanouids as function of nanoparticle concentration.

1138
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
cles. This is explained by the shear-thinning nature of this nanouid at
low shear rate, which is enhanced with nanoparticle content. A quite
Newtonian plateau was reached for higher shear rate of 1000 s1.
Garg et al. [35] investigated viscosity of Cu (200 nm)/EG nanouid
which was prepared using a chemical reduction method. The viscosity
of this nanouid was higher than that of EG and it increases with
increasing concentration of Cu. A maximum of 24% increase in
viscosity of this nanouid over base uid was found at 2 vol% of Cu
nanoparticles. Mosavian et al. [75] also observed similar increase
(23%) in viscosity of their Cu (25 nm)/W nanouid at 2.5 vol% of Cu
nanoparticles and at shear rate of 650 s1.
Behi and Mirmohammadi showed viscosity of Cu/DEG (diethylene
glycol)-based nanouids increased slightly from 11.4% to 13.1% when
they increased the concentration of Cu nanoparticle from 0.6 to 0.8 wt
% [76].
In two separate studies, Tseng and Chen investigated rheological
behavior of two dierent sizes (90 nm and 300 nm) Ni powders
dispersed in terpineol [77,78]. They added two surfactants (namely
KD-2 and KD-4) in their nanouids. While at 5 vol% nanouids with
larger (300 nm) nanoparticle showed about 16 times viscosity of base
terpineol, at the same concentration but at higher shear rate viscosity
of nanouids with smaller Ni nanoparticle was about 2.17 times of
terpineol. This indicates that the size of this nanoparticle play a major
role in changing (enhancement) viscosity of nanouids.
Abdelhalim et al. [79] reported viscosity data of three aqueous
nanouids containing dierent sizes of gold (Au) nanoparticles and
showed that the larger the nanoparticle size the higher the viscosity of
nanouids.
Katiyar et al. [80] studied magneto-rheological behavior of FeNi/
paran oil-based nanouid and found signicant eect of particle
concentration and magnetic eld on the viscosity of this nanouid. The
maximum viscosity of their nanouid was 2910 Pa s at 10 wt% of
nanoparticles and at 1 T magnetic eld.
Eect of temperature on viscosity of metallic nanouids is shown in
Fig. 5. It can be seen that except data of Cu/2000 ppm CTAC+NaSal
nanouids from Yang et al. [31] all other metallic nanouids exhibited
not very noticeable decrease in relative viscosity (Fig. 5). However, as
expected, viscosities of nanouids as well as base uids were found to
decrease nonlinearly with increasing temperature. Here the relative
viscosity term is used to quantify the increase or decrease of viscosity of
these nanouids over their base uids with respect to temperature. The
viscosities of nanouids and their respective base uids at the same
temperature were used to obtain the relative viscosity.
Fig. 5. Eect of temperature on viscosity of various metallic nanouids.
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4.2. Nanouids with nonmetallic nanoparticles
A large number of studies have been conducted on viscosity of
various types of non-metallic including carbon nanotubes (CNT) and
oxide nanoparticles dispersed nanouids. In this section, studies on
viscosity of dierent types of commonly used non-metallic nanouids
such as CNT, Al2O3 and TiO2 have been reviewed followed by other
types of comparatively less used nonmetallic nanouids. Experimental
results from literature have also been compared with the predictions
from various classical and recent viscosity models. Besides concentra-
tion of nanoparticles, eect of temperature is also discussed and
reviewed. As mentioned before, the viscosities of nanouids and their
respective base uids at the same temperature were used to obtain the
relative viscosity which is used in presenting temperature-dependent
viscosity of nanouids.
4.2.1. Carbon nanotubes-nanouids
Among various nanouids, carbon nanotubes dispersed nanouids
are very popular mostly due to much higher thermal conductivity of
CNT compared to other nanoparticles. However, compared to studies
on other nanouids [2224], limited works have been performed on
the viscosity of CNT-nanouids.
Kinloch et al. [81] studied rheological behavior of oxidized CNT/
water nanouids. Their dispersions exhibit a signicantly shear-thin-
ning behavior at all CNT concentrations. Results also showed an
increase in viscosity of this nanouid with an increasing concentration
of CNT.
Eects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) loading,
surfactant concentration and dispersion energy (ultrasonication) on
the thermal conductivity and steady shear viscosity of oil (PAO6)-
based-nanouids were investigated by Yang et al. [30]. Polyisobutene
succinimide (PIBSI) was used as surfactant in their study. It was shown
that the PIBSI dispersant controls the viscosity of nanouids particu-
larly at low shear conditions. For example, an astounding six orders of
magnitude decrease in viscosity of nanouids was found due to
addition of this surfactant and decreasing the shear stress from 0.1
to 0.07 Pa. However, dispersant concentration lower or higher than
3 wt% yielded higher viscosity of nanouids. While nanouids with
lowest concentration of CNT can be treated as a Newtonian uid,
nanouids containing 0.09 and 0.13 vol% of CNT showed slight shear
thinning nature at low shear stress. Nevertheless, viscosity of nano-
uids was found to increase considerably with increasing MWCNT
concentration.
Ding et al. [28] reported viscosity of aqueous MWCNT-nanouids
as a function of shear rate and at dierent concentrations as well as
temperatures in a study on convective heat transfer. At all shear rates,
the viscosity of their nanouids was found to increase and decrease
with increasing loading of MWCNT and temperature, respectively.
They also observed a linear shear shinning phenomenon in their
surfactant free nanouids. However, Gum Arabic (GA) surfactant
added base uid (i.e., water) clearly showed a nonlinear and mixed
behavior as they found a shear thinning behavior at low shear rates but
slight shear thickening at shear rates above 200 s1. It was concluded
that the presence of this surfactant aects little on the viscosity at low
shear rates but may play a role at high shear rates.
Ko et al. [82] measured viscosity of aqueous CNT nanouids and
used functionalization of CNT and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)
surfactant addition methods to prepare sable nanouids. The viscosity
results showed that their nanouids are shear-thinning uids where
the viscosity decreased with increasing shear rate. At any shear rate the
viscosity of nanouids was found to increase with increasing the
volumetric loading of CNT.
Eect of volumetric concentration of MWCNT and temperature on
the viscosity of distilled water-based nanouids was studied by Chen
et al. [83]. They reported that at low volume fractions ( < 0.4 vol%),
nanouids have lower viscosity than that of the base uid. However,
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
the viscosity only increases with increasing from higher than 0.4%
volumetric loading of MWCNT and there is almost no change in
viscosity of their nanouids with the temperature up to 55 C.
Interestingly, a sudden increase in viscosity was observed at tempera-
ture higher than 55 C. The same group later studied the rheology of
silicone oil (SO)-based treated MWCNT nanouids at various concen-
trations and temperatures [48]. Their SO-based nanouids were found
to behave in a Newtonian manner for all concentrations and tempera-
tures. Also the enhanced viscosity of nanouids further increases
signicantly with increasing concentration of MWCNT and decreases
non-linearly with increasing temperature. It was also reported that
addition of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS) dispersant in silicone oil can
decrease its viscosity but has little eect on the rheology of nanouids.
This group further reported rheological behaviors of similar MWCNT-
nanouids in dierent base uids, which include water (W), ethylene
glycol (EG), glycerol, and silicone oil [84]. Like their previous study
[48], glycerol and silicone oil-based nanouids were found to be of
Newtonian nature. The viscosity of all of their nanouids showed
substantially increased and decreased with MWCNT concentration
(except 0.2 vol%) and temperature (up to 55 C), respectively.
Interestingly, at MWCNT volume fraction of 0.002, nanouids have
lower viscosity than the corresponding base uids. They attributed
such unusual results to lubricative eect of MWCNT. Nonetheless, for
ethylene glycol and glycerol based nanouids, almost no viscosity
augmentation appeared when the temperature was higher than 55 C.
An investigation of the eect of ultrasonication on viscosity and
heat transfer performance of MWCNT/W nanouids was conducted by
Garg et al. [85]. They added 0.25 wt% gum arabic surfactant in their
nanouids. All nanouids were found to show non-Newtonian behavior
particularly at 15 C and they fall into power law uids. The viscosity of
their nanouids increased with increasing sonication time from 20 min
to 40 min and thereafter decreased with increasing time.
Phuoc et al. [43] measured the viscosity of suspensions of MWCNT
in chitosan (surfactant) added water having 0.5 vol% acetic acid. For
the rst time, they demonstrated that depending on the concentration,
MWCNT can be used either to enhance or reduce the base uids
viscosity. A reduction of viscosity up to 20% was observed at 0.5 wt% of
MWCNT. For all other concentrations, nanouids showed higher
viscosity compared to that of the base uid.
Hung and Chou studied the eect of chitosan dispersant and
MWCNT concentration on few features including thermal conductivity
and viscosity of water-based nanouids [86]. It was concluded that
both the chitosan and MWCNT concentrations increase the viscosity of
nanouids. A maximum 233% enhancement of viscosity of water was
achieved due to addition of 1.5 wt% of MWCNT and 0.4 wt% of
chitosan dispersant in it.
An experimental investigation on the thermal conductivity and
viscosity of ethylene glycol-based CNT nanouids was performed by
Singh et al. [87]. As usual, the viscosity of their nanouids was found to
increase and decrease signicantly with increasing of CNT concentra-
tion and temperature, respectively.
Harish et al. [88] reported viscosity of single-walled carbon
nanotubes (SWCNT)/W nanouids with Sodium deoxycholate (DOC)
surfactant and observed that the viscosity of this nanouid increased
and decreased substantially with increasing SWCNT concentration and
temperature, respectively. For instance, a 30% increase in viscosity was
reported for SWCNT concentration of 0.3 vol%.
Vakili-Nezhaada and Dorany measured the viscosity of suspensions
of SWCNT in lube oil cuts at dierent temperatures ranging from 25 to
100 C [89]. Like most of the previous studies, they also found that the
viscosity of nanouids increased and decreased with increasing CNT
loading and temperature, respectively. A maximum 33% increase in
viscosity of nanouids was found at SWCNT loading of 0.2 wt%.
Estell et al. [90] studied the eect of shear history on the rheology
of aqueous MWCNT-nanouid. Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate
(SDBS) surfactant was used in their nanouid. It was found that at
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
low shear rates this nanouid behaves like a viscoelastic media and is
shear-thinning at higher shear rates. Shear history-dependent beha-
viors of this nanouid were shown and attributed to breaking down of
the MWCNT-nanouids aggregates and structural network during pre-
shear. In another study, they measured the viscosity of the same
aqueous nanouids at various concentrations of MWCNT and tem-
peratures ranging from 0 to 40 C [34]. It was revealed that while
nanouids were Newtonian at low MWCNT concentration, they were
shear-thinning at high concentration. Although viscosity of their
nanouids was found to increase with concentration, no pronounceable
eect of temperature on the relative viscosity was observed at high
shear rate (1000 s1). The eect of surfactant on the rheological
behavior of the same MWCNT/W nanouids was later investigated
by the same group [91]. They showed that lignin reduces viscosity value
and shear-thinning behavior of nanouids at high volume fraction,
suggesting that lignin acts as a better surfactant than SDBS. However,
for low concentration, it was shown that viscosity of these MWCNT
water-based nanouids are not aected by the type of surfactant used
[91].
The rheological properties of MWCNT dispersed in water with a
mixture of TritonX-SDBS surfactant was investigated by Wang et al.
[92] for nanoparticle volume fraction 0.05%, 0.24% and 1.27%.
Viscosity of nanouids tends to a Newtonian plateau for shear rate
range 10120 s1, with viscosity value higher than that of water, while
shear-thinning is observed above 10 s1. It was also reported that the
viscosity of this nanouid decreases with temperature.
Inuences of ultrasonication time, shear rate as well as temperature
on the viscosity (also thermal conductivity) of aqueous MWCNT-
nanouids were investigated in a study by Sadri et al. [93]. Gum arabic
surfactant was used in nanouids. Nanouids was found to be non-
Newtonian shear-thinning and the viscosity increased to a maximum
value at a sonication time of 7 min and subsequently decreases with a
further increase in sonication time up to 40 min. The viscosity of
nanouids was higher at low shear rates and decreases with increasing
shear rate, which was attributed to the breakup of CNT agglomerates
and clusters at high shear rates. Furthermore, the viscosity of their
CNT nanouids also decreased with increasing temperature.
Ultrasonication eect on rheological properties of ethylene glycol-
based nanouids with 0.5 wt% of MWCNT was also reported by Ruan
and Jacobi [94]. This nanouid displayed shear-thinning behavior
within the shear rate range 10100 s1. They showed that at xed shear
rate nanouid viscosity rst increases, then decreases with sonication
time duration. This was correlated to the competition between reduc-
tion in size of nanotubes and breaking agglomerates.
Maillaud et al. [95] recently studied rheological properties of
aqueous CNT nanofuids containing a xed 1 wt% of SDS and various
concentrations (18 wt%) of Triton X-100 (TX100) surfactants.
Although SDS/TX100 mixtures showed Newtonian behavior, their
CNT/SDS/TX100 nanouid exhibit a shear-thinning behavior at all
CNT concentrations. At a shear rate of 10 s1 the relative viscosity was
found to increase substantially and almost linearly with increasing
concentration of TX100 and it increased when CNT concentration was
increased from 0.2 to 0.4 wt%. Such increase in viscosity with the
TX100 was attributed to the surfactant mediated attractive interactions
between the CNT.
Literature viscosity data of various CNT nanouids as a function of
CNT concentration are presented in Fig. 6. Despite some inconstancies
in the data, the relative viscosity of these nanouids found to increase
noticeable with increasing volumetric loading of CNT. Fig. 7 demon-
strates the eect of temperature on their viscosity and it reveals that
temperature has a mixed eect (increase, decrease, and combination of
both) on the viscosity of these nanouids.
A summary of rheological behavior and key results on viscosity of
CNT-nanouids is also reported in Table 1 which shows despite few
results of reductions of viscosity, most studies reported signicant
enhancement of viscosity of these nanouids.
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

higher than those of their base uids. In addition to loading of CNT,

shear rate, sonication time, and temperature also play considerable role
in alternating the rheological behavior and the magnitude of viscosity
of these CNT-nanouids.

Fig. 6. Viscosity of CNTnanouids as a function of CNT concentration.
Fig. 7. Eect of temperature on viscosity of CNTnanouids.
Above review including results presented in Figs. 6 and 7 as well as
in Table 1 revealed that these CNT-nanouids exhibit both Newtonian
and non-Newtonian behaviors and their viscosities are considerably
4.2.2. Alumina-nanouids
Masuda et al. [96] measured the viscosity of suspensions of
dierent types of nanoparticles including Al2O3 (13 nm) in water
systems even before the term- nanouids was coined in Argonne
National Laboratory, USA [97]. At 4.3 vol% loading of Al2O3 nanopar-
ticles the viscosity of water was found to increase by nearly 250% at
temperature of 305 K [96]. Later similar magnitude of increase in
viscosity of the same Al2O3 (13 nm)/W was reported by Pak and Cho
who found about 150% increase in viscosity of water at 2.78 vol% of
nanoparticle and at shear rate of 395 s1 [32]. However, the maximum
enhancement of viscosity was over 100 times of water viscosity at
10 vol% concentration of Al2O3 [32].
Wang et al. [98] measured viscosity of Al2O3 (28 nm)/distilled
water and EG-based nanouids and found about 86% increase in the
viscosity of water at 5 vol% concentration of this nanoparticle. A
mechanical blending technique was also used for dispersion of Al2O3
nanoparticles in water [98]. Also their Al2O3/EG-based nanouids
showed about 40% increase in viscosity at 3.5% volumetric loading of
nanoparticle in EG [98]. As anticipated, the viscosity of their nanouids
was found to depend on the methods used to disperse and stabilize the
nanoparticle suspensions [98].
Results from an international round-robin exercise on the viscosity
of several aqueous and synthetic oil based nanouids (including Al2O3
nanoparticles) revealed that nanoparticle concentration is the most
signicant variable for the linear dependence of the viscosity of these
nanouids [42]. This round-robin exercise also demonstrated that the
classical models (e.g., Einstein [51]) for dilute suspensions consider-
ably under predict these viscosity data. The degree of agglomeration of
nanoparticles was considered to be the main reason for the observed
dierences between the prediction and measured data.
In a study on the eect of nanoparticles concentration and
temperature, Nguyen et al. [65] observed interesting viscosity hyster-
esis phenomena for their aqueous nanouids with two dierent sizes
(36 nm and 47 nm) of Al2O3 nanoparticles. At a low volume fraction
(e.g. 1%) of nanoparticles, they detected no sign of hysteresis but for
higher concentration of these nanoparticles, hysteresis was observed
and it became more pronounced with increasing the concentration of

Table 1
Summary of key viscosity results of CNT- nanofluids from literature.

CNT/Base uid Dispersant/surface Rheology Key results (relative viscosity, r)/remarks Reference
treatment

MWCNT/Oil PIBSI Newtonian and shear- At 0.34 CNT vol% and 10 Pa, r=1570 and at 50 Pa, r=30.20 (i.e., Yang et al. [30]
thinning 30.2 times larger than f)

MWCNT/W Surface treated At < 0.4 CNT vol% and < 55 C, r < 1 (decreasing); Chen et al. [83]
Above 55 C and for any CNT vol%, r > 1 (increasing)

MWCNT/SO Surface treated and Newtonian At 0.54 wt% of CNT, r < 1 (decreasing) Chen and Xie [48]
HMDS At 1 wt% of CNT, r~1 (same)
MWCNT/W Chitosan Non-Newtonian At 0.5 wt% of CNT, r=0.80 (20% reduction of nf) (i.e., 30.2 times Phuoc et al. [43]
larger nf)

MWCNT/W Chitosan At 0.25 wt% of CNT, r=2.27; Hung and Chou [86]
At 1.5 wt% of CNT, r=3.33
SWCNT/W DOC At 0.3 vol% of CNT, r=1.30 Harish et al. [88]

MWCNT/W SDBS, Lignin Both Newtonian and shear- At 0.055 vol% of CNT, r=0.92; Halelfadl et al. [34], Estell
thinning At 0.55 vol% of CNT, r=5.2 and 1.5 with SDBS and lignin, et al. [91]
respectively
MWCNT/W GA Newtonian and shear- nf increased up to 7 min of sonication and then decreased with Sadri et al. [93]
thinning further increase in sonication time
CNT/W SDS+TX100 Shear-thinning nf increased with TX100 and CNT loading Maillaud et al. [95]

1141
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
nanoparticles. Their results demonstrated the existence of a critical
temperature beyond which nanouids viscous behavior can alter
drastically. For nanoparticle volume fractions lower than 4%, viscos-
ities of nanouids for both sizes of Al2O3 nanoparticles were approxi-
mately identical. Signicant eect of concentration and temperature on
the viscosity was found as the viscosity of nanouids increased and
decreases considerably with increasing nanoparticles volumetric load-
ing and temperature, respectively [65].
Lee et al. [99] reported viscosity of Al2O3/W nanouids with low
concentrations (up to 0.3 vol%) of nanoparticles without adding any
surfactant. Besides Al2O3 concentration, eect of temperature was also
studied. Their viscosity results showed a nonlinear relation with the
concentration of nanoparticles and that the viscosity signicantly
decreased with increasing temperature.
A previous study by Murshed et al. [13] showed that while the
maximum increase in viscosity of water was about 180% at 5%
volumetric loading of Al2O3 (150 nm) nanoparticles, about 82%
enhancement in viscosity of water was obtained for the same volu-
metric loading of 80 nm sized Al2O3 nanoparticles. These enhance-
ments were much smaller compared to the increase in viscosity
observed by other researchers for smaller sized Al2O3 nanoparticles
[32,96]. However, a similar increase in viscosity (86%) was reported by
Wang et al. [98]. Zhou et al. [102] also observed similar increase in
viscosity of their Al2O3/PAO nanouids. Al2O3 water-based nanouids
with 1 vol% and 30 nm in average diameter was investigated by Aladag
et al. [100] between 2 and 10 C. Non-Newtonian behavior with
thixotropic hysteresis was reported and a maximum enhancement of
viscosity was obtained at the lower temperature.
For W/EG (80:20 w/w) mixture-based nanouid, Yiamsawas et al.
[101] found about 2.23 times larger viscosity of their nanouid
compared to base uid at 4 vol% loading of Al2O3 (120 nm) nanopar-
ticle.
Very recently, Sharifpur et al. [74] measured viscosity of glycerol-
based nanouids with three dierent sizes (19, 139 and 160 nm) of
Al2O3 nanoparticles. They showed that the viscosities of these nano-
uids increase and decrease signicantly with increasing volumetric
concentration of nanoparticles and temperature, respectively. They
found higher viscosity for smaller sized nanoparticles and the dier-
ence was more signicant at higher concentrations of nanoparticles.
Fig. 8 presents viscosity data of various Al2O3 nanouids as a
function of volumetric concentration of this nanoparticle and it also
compares experimental results with the predictions from several key
classical and recently proposed empirical models. It can be seen that
the viscosity of nanouids increased substantially with increasing
loading of Al2O3 nanoparticles. It is also noticed from Fig. 9 that
Fig. 8. Literature data and predictions of viscosity of Al2O3nanouids as a function of
nanoparticle concentration.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
Fig. 9. Eect of temperature on viscosity of Al2O3nanouids.
viscosity data from dierent research groups are scattered. Since
relative viscosity was calculated for the predictions by these models,
no viscosity value of any base uid was required. As can be seen from
Fig. 8, except a recent empirical model proposed by Williams et al.
[69], the viscosity results of these studies are signicantly larger than
the predictions by other models. It is however noted that Williams
et al.s model [69] was obtained by tting their results for Al2O3
(46 nm)/water based nanouids.
It is known that temperature inuences the viscosity of uids. In
addition to concentration of nanoparticles, eect of temperature on the
viscosity of nanouids was also investigated by many researchers.
Fig. 9 presents the relative viscosity of Al2O3 nanouids from literature
as a function of temperature. As also mentioned before, viscosity of
nanouids and their respective base uids at the corresponding
temperature were used to obtain the relative viscosity. Except for the
results from two studies [74,104], no signicant eect of temperature
on the enhancement of relative viscosity of Al2O3 nanouids was found
(Fig. 9). This demonstrates that the eect of temperature on the
viscosities of both the nanouids and base uids are of similar
decreasing magnitude and there is no special temperature-based
mechanism that alters the viscosity of these nanouids. Furthermore,
several researchers observed slight reduction of viscosity with increas-
ing temperature [66,103].
Nevertheless, the viscosity data of these nanouids from dierent
studies are scattered as dierent researchers used dierent nanopar-
ticles sizes, base uids, surfactants, sample preparation techniques,
and measurement techniques. Interestingly, for the same aqueous
Al2O3 (27 nm) nanouids two early studies showed very similar
increasing inuence of temperature up to 62 C [32,96]. It is noted
that when only viscosity of nanouids are presented as a function of
temperature, similar to base uids they follow a nonlinear decreasing
trend with increasing temperature.
4.2.3. Titania-nanouids
Although TiO2 nanoparticles have comparatively low thermal
conductivity, they are widely used in nanouids mainly due to their
easy availability in large quantities and its relatively low cost. The
literature survey indicates that TiO2 dispersed nanouid is one of the
most popular nanouids used by the researchers. Fig. 10 displays
literature results on various uids based TiO2 nanouids as a function
of volumetric concentration this nanoparticle at room temperature.
These experimental viscosity data was also compared with the predic-
tions from several existing models (classical and recent empirical
correlations). Like other previously discussed nanouids, the enhanced
viscosity of these TiO2 nanouids increased signicantly with increas-
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
Fig. 10. Literature data and predictions of viscosity of various TiO2nanouids as a
function of nanoparticle concentration.
ing the volumetric loading of this nanoparticle. Except for very low
concentration of nanoparticles, the existing models are found to under-
predict the viscosity of these nanouids. It can be noticed that
empirical correlations proposed by Chen et al. [64] and Garg et al.
[35] give better predictions than those of other classical models
(Fig. 10). However, it should be noted that while Chen et al.'s [64]
empirical model was obtained by regression of their experimental
results of TiO2 (25 nm)/EG based nanouids, Garg et al.'s [35] model
was introduced based on tting their experimental data of Cu
(200 nm)/EG.
Among those early research works on nanouids, Masuda et al. [96]
and Pak and Cho [32] investigated the viscosity of few nanouids
including TiO2 nanouids of same base uid (water) and same size
(27 nm) of nanoparticles. While Masuda et al. [96] found 46% increase
in viscosity at 3.2 vol% of TiO2, Pak and Cho [32] observed 36%
increase for the nanouid at almost the same concentration (3.16 vol%)
of TiO2. It is noted that while this result of Masuda et al. [96] was at
32 C, Pak and Chos [32] data was obtained at room temperature.
Chen et al. [22] studied rheological behavior of EG based nanouids
containing 0.11.8 vol% TiO2 (25 nm) nanoparticles and no surfactant
was added. The relative viscosity of their nanouids was found to be
independent of temperature.
In two earlier studies, Murshed et al. [12,13] reported viscosity of
aqueous nanouids consisting of two dierent shaped (spherical and
nanorod) TiO2 nanoparticles. The viscosity of rod-shaped (1040 nm)
TiO2 nanouids was smaller than that of nanouids with spherical
(15 nm) nanoparticles. For instance, at 5 vol% concentration the
maximum increases in viscosity for spherical and rod-shaped TiO2
nanouids were about 86% and 58%, respectively. Later viscosity of
silicone oil based nanouids at low concentration of TiO2 (20 nm)
nanoparticle was investigated and a maximum 22% increase in
viscosity was observed at 0.5% volumetric loading of this nanoparticle
[33].
Turgut et al. [106] studied viscosity of aqueous TiO2 (21 nm)
nanouids without any surfactant and found an increase in viscosity
of about 64% at 2 vol% of nanoparticles. Whereas for the same TiO2
(21 nm)/W nanouids without surfactant, Duangthongsuk and
Wongwises observed only 13% increase in viscosity at the same
concentration (2 vol%) [105]. Such a large dierence between the
enhancements of viscosity of the same nanouid from these two groups
cannot be only due to two dierent equipment used to measure the
viscosity of their nanouids.
Yiamsawas et al. [101] measured viscosity of nanouids containing
TiO2 (21 nm) in mixture of EG/W (20:80) and found maximum
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
Fig. 11. Eect of temperature on viscosity of TiO2 based nanouids.
increase in viscosity of this nanouid to be about 52% at 4 vol%
loading of this nanoparticle. Almost a linear increase in viscosity with
concentration of nanoparticle was observed and the maximum en-
hancement of viscosity was about 23% at 1.8 vol% concentration. Based
on regression of their experimental data they also proposed a correla-
tion for volume fraction-dependent viscosity of their nanouids.
Literature studies and comparison between Figs. 8 and 10 revealed
that the overall increase in the viscosity of TiO2 nanouids with volume
fraction is smaller as compared to viscosity of Al2O3 nanouids.
However, data from various research groups vary considerably as well
and the reason could be mainly due to dierent sample preparation and
measurement techniques used by dierent groups.
Number of studies also investigated the eect of temperature on the
viscosity of TiO2 nanouids. The eect of temperature on the viscosity
of various TiO2 nanouids obtained from the literature is presented in
Fig. 11. As can be seen from these results (Fig. 11), like other
nanouids temperature has a mixed eect (increase, decrease and
combination of both) on the viscosity of these nanouids. For instance,
several research groups (e.g., Naina et al. [109] and Yiamsawas et al.
[101]) showed increase in relative viscosity with temperature and most
of other researchers (e.g., Masuda et al. [96], Pak and Cho [32] and
Murshed et al. [33,108]) reported decrease, not so signicant, or no
eect of temperature on the relative viscosity of these nanouids. No
eect or not so signicant eect of temperature indicates that the
temperature has similar inuence on the viscosity of both the base
uids and nanouids. Nevertheless, Fig. 11 clearly shows inconsisten-
cies among temperature-dependent viscosity data from various re-
search groups.
Duangthongsuk and Wongwises also studied eect of temperature
on the viscosity of their TiO2 (21 nm)/W nanouids and their results
showed that the viscosity decreases with increasing temperature, while
the relative viscosity increases with increasing temperature particularly
at higher concentrations [105]. Similar results for the same nanouids
(TiO2 (21 nm)/W) were also reported by Turgut et al. [106].
Interesting results of temperature dependence of viscosity of
aqueous TiO2 (21 nm) nanouids was observed by Bobbo et al.
[107]. They showed mixed eect of temperature on viscosity of their
nanouids. For example, when temperature was increased from 10 to
20 C, relative viscosity increased slightly (about 4%) and then
increasing temperature from 20 to 30 C resulted considerable de-
crease (7%) in relative viscosity. Similar trend continues up to 50 C.
However, the relative viscosity was found to increase considerable with
increasing temperature beyond 50 C.
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
4.2.4. ZnO-nanouids
The rheological behavior of surfactant-less ZnO/EG nanouids was
rst investigated by Yu et al. [110] with spherical particle of average
diameter of 1020 nm and loadings between 0.2% and 5% in volume.
It was shown that nanouids behave in a Newtonian manner at lower
than 2 vol% while shear-thinning behavior was reported for higher
concentration of nanoparticles. This non-Newtonian behavior was
attributed to presence of aggregates. In addition, dependency of
rheological properties on temperature was shown for all the tested
concentrations.
ZnO nanoparticles of both spherical and rectangular shapes with an
average diameter of 30 nm were dispersed in ethylene glycol with PVP
surfactant by Li et al. [111]. Within particle loadings of 1.7510.5 wt%,
a Newtonian behavior was reported for all nanouids. A slight decrease
in relative viscosity with temperature increase from 15 C to 55 C was
also demonstrated.
The eect of base uids was later considered by the same group
[112] considering mixtures of ethylene glycol and deionized water with
the following proportions by volume, 75:25, 85:15 and 95:5 respec-
tively. Same ZnO nanoparticles and PVP surfactant were used at only
one (i.e., 5.25 wt%) concentration of nanoparticle. Viscosity measure-
ments were also performed at the temperature range of 1555 C. They
evidenced the inuence of PVP on viscosity increase of base uids and
role of ethylene glycol in reduction of nanouids uidity.
Esfe and Saedodin [113] considered spherical ZnO nanoparticles
with average size of 18 nm dispersed in ethylene glycol without the help
of surfactant. Their nanouids showed Newtonain behavior for volume
concentration 0.255%, temperature range 2550 C and shear arte
range up to 100 s1. Relative viscosity was well increased with volume
fraction of ZnO without any signicant change with temperature.
Viscosity of ethylene glycol-based ZnO nanouids was also studied
by Moosavi et al. [114]. Ammonium citrate (AC) was used as surfactant
(with ratio dispersant to nanoparticles 1:1) to ensure proper and stable
dispersion of quite spherical nanoparticles of around 60 nm in
diameter without the presence of clusters. They also showed that
viscosity ratio increases within the range of particle loadings 0.20.6%
at 25 C and that viscosity ratio decreases with temperature increase
from 25 to 50 C.
The inuence of ZnO nanoparticle shapes on viscosity of water-
based nanouids was experimentally investigated by Jeong et al. [115].
The volume concentration ranged from 0.05% to 5%, rectangular
nanoparticles were in a primary size of 90210 nm and spherical
nanoparticles were in the range 2040 nm. Dispersion and stability of
nanoparticles within water was achieved with addition of ammonium
polymethacrylate dispersant. The enhancement of relative viscosity
with nanoparticle content was greater with rectangular nanoparticles
than that of spherical ones.
The viscosity of ZnO water-based nanouids at a xed shear rate of
73.4 s1 and volume fraction of 0.252% was measured by Suganthi
and Rajan [116]. ZnO nanoparticles were spherical shape with a
diameter of 37.5 nm and stabilized in water using sodium hexameta-
phosphate (SHMP; surfactant nanoparticle ratio xed at 1:5). Their
results revealed temperature independency of relative viscosity up to
35 C then increase of relative viscosity with the temperature increase
up to 55 C. This trend appeared to be unaected by the size of
aggregates which were changed by the duration of ultrasonication.
Raykar and Singh reported non-Newtonian behavior with a yield
stress of water-based ZnO nanouids which was modied and stabi-
lized by acetylacetone (acac) for volume fractions of 0.075%, 0.25% and
0.5% [117]. Nanoparticles were non-spherical in shape with average
sizes of 80 nm after coating by acac. Temperature and concentration
dependence of non-Newtonian characteristics is similar to the one
reported above when a Newtonian feature was obtained.
The rheological properties of rod-like ZnO nanoparticles dispersed
in mineral oil (MO) based lubricant were measured by Heris et al.
[118] discussing the eect of volume fraction in the range 0.010.6%
1144
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
and temperature from 0 to 60 C. Nanolubricants was found to behave
as yield stress uids as mineral oil and the viscosity ratio was enhanced
by the nanoparticle loadings and the presence of aggregates. The
inuence of temperature is primarily governed by mineral oil proper-
ties and mainly aects the viscosity of nanouids at higher tempera-
tures and concentrations.
A summary of literature data on viscosity of various ZnO nanouids
is provided in Table 2. As for other nanoparticles, viscosity increase of
these nanouids is mainly governed by nanoparticle loadings, size of
nanoparticles and coupling eect of viscosity of base uid and
dispersion state of nanoparticles.
4.2.5. CuO-nanouids
Kwak and Kim have investigated the rheological behavior of
ethylene glycol-based prolate-spheroid CuO nanoparticles of 10
30 nm in length and with volume fraction of 0.0110% [119]. The
CuO particles appear mainly in the form of aggregates, even after an
intensive sonic stirring action, which induce a shear-thinning behavior
for nanoparticle loading higher than 0.1 vol%.
A research group studied rheology of suspensions of CuO nano-
particles in EG and water mixture (60:40 by weight) and reported a
Newtonian behavior for this nanouid [120,121]. Nanoparticles were
of spherical shape with an average diameter of 29 nm. This Newtonian
feature was noticed for all tested volume fractions (06.12%) of
nanoparticles and for a wide temperature range from 35 to 50 C.
They observed viscosity decrease of nanouids was correlated to both
temperature increase and nanoparticle content decrease.
Similar CuO nanoparticles were investigated by Nguyen et al. [65]
considering water as base uid. They have also reported similar trends
of viscosity of nanouids. For the rst time, they evidenced hysteresis
phenomenon for nanouid viscosity under both critical temperature of
57 C and nanoparticle concentration of 4.5% for their CuO/W-based
nanouids.
Naik et al. [122] studied spherical CuO nanoparticles with average
diameter lower than 50 nm dispersed in a mixture of propylene
glycol(PG) and water (60:40 by weight) as base uid and maximum
particle volume fraction of 1.25%. The Newtonian nature of CuO
nanouids for studied shear rate range between 500 and 700 s1 and
their dependence with respect to temperature and concentration were
also observed in their study. Similar tendencies were also reported by
Mosavian et al. [75] with CuO nanoparticles of 50 nm in diameter
dispersed in water and nanoparticle volume fraction from 0.2% to 3%.
Viscosity measurement of spherical CuO nanoparticles with larger
average diameter of 152 nm suspended in ethylene glycol was per-
formed by Anoop et al. [123]. They have clearly shown the relative
viscosity increase of nanouids with nanoparticle volume fraction,
noting also the diculty to maintain uniform dispersion of nanopar-
ticles within the base uid.
The inuence of CuO nanoparticles polydispersity and nanoparti-
cles size on viscosity of water-based nanouids was studied by
Pastoriza-Gallego et al. [124]. An increase in viscosity with CuO
content for 0.161.7 vol% range was reported. They also showed that
viscosity enhancement with concentration is larger for smaller nano-
particles, and that this trend cannot be explained by polydispersity and
aggregation theories as for larger nanoparticles.
The eect of non-spherical morphology of CuO nanoparticles on
viscosity of water-based nanouids was investigated by Priya et al.
[125] for very low volume fraction of 0.0040.016% and temperature
of 2555 C. Nanouid viscosity decrease with temperature appeared
to be independent of nanoparticle volume fraction and the relative
viscosity was also weakly modied by the temperature. Viscosity
enhancement with volume fraction was again noticed with maximum
enhancement of about 10% at 0.0016% and 55 C.
Dispersion of CuO nanoparticles in oil was reported in more recent
studies. So, gear oil was used by Kole and Dey [39] with spherical CuO
nanoparticles of 40 nm in diameter. They observed a shear-thinning
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

behavior for nanouids up to maximum shear rate of 30 s1 for

Moosavi et al. [114]

Suganthi and Rajan

Esfe and Saedodin

Raykar and Singh

Jeong et al. [115]

Heris et al. [118]

temperature range of 1050 C and at higher than 0.005 vol fraction

Yu et al. [110]

Li et al. [111]

Li et al. [112]
of CuO. For higher temperature, Newtonian nature of nanouids was
Reference

observed. While ultra-low concentration was considered, viscosity

enhancement with respect to volume fraction was noted and correlated

[113]

[116]

[117]
to nanoparticles aggregation, as aggregates were around 7 times larger
than primary nanoparticles at 30 C.

Shear-thinning with a yield stress

Bingham (Newtonian with a yield

The viscosity of CuO/oil-based nanouids with nanoparticle of 50 nm
shear-thinning at > 2 vol%)
Newtonian at < 2 vol% and

in diameter was measured by Saeedinia et al. [126] at temperatures

between 20 and 70 C and for weight fraction ranging from 0.2% to 2%.
Newtonian nature was noticed in the shear rate range of 015 s1 for all
tested temperatures and concentrations, and decrease of viscosity with
temperature was observed as for water-based nanouids.
Newtonian

Newtonian
Rheology

CuO/coconut oil (CO)-nanouids was studied by Rashin and

stress)
Hemalatha, who observed shear-thinning nature of this nanouid for
all CuO concentrations (0.52.5%) and temperatures ranging from 35

to 55 C [127]. Similarly to previous works, viscosity of nanouids at

2 vol% and viscosity increase with sonication time
r (rectangular NP)=1.7; r (spherical NP)=1.6 at
r decreases with temperature, r=2 at 15 C and

xed shear rate was found to decrease with temperature and to increase
Temperature-dependent above 40 C, r=1.18 at

Higher viscosity for higher concentration due to

Aggregate size increased with volume fraction

At fixed temperature, viscosity decreases with

with concentration.
8% increase in r at 0.6 vol% at 0 and 20 C
Key results (relative viscosity, r) /remarks

Zennifer et al. [128] investigated surfactant-less CuO/EG nano-

Maximum r=1.27 at 0.6 vol% and 25 C
r temperature independent, maximum

uids with spherical nanoparticles of 2535 nm in diameter initially in

the form of aggregates. They showed that nanouid viscosity decreases
enhancement of 1.28 at 5 vol%

with time of ultrasonication due to the reduction of aggregates and

better dispersion of nanoparticles. They reported Newtonian behavior
increasing water content

of tested nanouids and reduction in viscosity at both xed shear rate

of 99 s1 and temperature of 26 C, with increase in nanoparticle
5 vol% and 22 C

volume fraction from 0.25% to 1%. This diers from viscosity results
mentioned above. A decrease of viscosity of nanouids with tempera-
aggregates

ture was also noted with trend similar to base uid, and viscosity ratio
10.5 wt%

(r) increased with temperature.

Table 3 presents a summary of available literature data on viscosity
of CuO dispersed nanouids. This review demonstrates that the main
Temperature studied

conclusions related to concentration and temperature inuence re-

ported so far are also valid for CuO nanouids.

4.2.6. SiC-nanouids
2060

1555

1555

2555

2550
2275

2555

1250

060

In comparison with previous nanoparticles, silicon carbide (SiC)

(C)

dispersed nanouids for heat transfer enhancement were less investi-

gated. The main contributions on viscosity of SiC nanouids were done
by Singh et al. [129] and Timofeeva and co-workers [130,131].
AC (ratio with NP 1:1)

SHMP (SHMP and NP

Acetylacetone (acac)

Singh et al. [129] measured the viscosity of commercial polydis-

Ammonium poly-

perse SiC nanoparticles with an average size of 170 nm dispersed in

Surfactant used

methacrylate

water without the help of surfactant. The data were collected consider-
ratio 1:5)

ing the eect of nanoparticle volumetric loadings (1.87.4%) and

temperature from 15 to 55 C. A Newtonian behavior of nanouids
PVP

PVP
No

No

No

was indicated, the relative viscosity being linearly increased with

respect to concentration, and low-inuenced by temperature rise.
EG, Glycerol
Base fluid

The eects of nanoparticles size and surface area (1690 nm) and
Summary of literature data related to viscosity of ZnO nanofluids.

EG/W

volume fraction on the viscosity of the same SiC/W-based nanouids

MO
EG

EG

EG

were investigated by Timofeeva et al. [130] who evidenced the role of

pH adjustment on the viscosity of nanouids, which decreased with the
0.0750.5 vol
1.7510.5 wt

0.010.6 vol
0.255 vol%

0.055 vol%

0.252 vol%
NP loadings

0.25 vol%

10.6 vol%

pH increase. This phenomenon was correlated to the charge at

5.25 wt%

nanoparticle surface and related to electrostatic stabilization of nano-

uids. For xed values of optimized pH and volume fraction, they
%

showed that the nanouid viscosity changed with the area of solid/
liquid interface and it was larger for smaller nanoparticles. Later a
comparison was made considering ethylene glycol and water mixture
ZnO (spherical and rectangular,

(50/50 vol%) as base uid by the same group and they found that the
rectangular 90210 nm)

ZnO (nonspherical, 80 nm)

ZnO, (spherical 2040 nm;
ZnO (spherical,1020 nm)

relative viscosity was lower than that of the base uid (water). The
ZnO (spherical, 37.5 nm)

ZnO (elongated, 25 nm)

ZnO (spherical, 30 nm)

ZnO (spherical, 60 nm)

ZnO (spherical,18 nm)

relative viscosity was found to slightly increase up to 50 C then

NP (shape and size)

decreased for higher temperatures [131]. Same trends were also

mentioned concerning the eect of nanoparticle size on viscosity.
Lee et al. [132] investigated viscosity of SiC/W nanouids with low
30 nm)

loadings of nanoparticle with quite spherical shape and diameter of <

Table 2

100 nm. They also reported dependence of relative viscosity with

volume fraction and temperature.

1145
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

Nikkam et al. [133] performed viscosity measurement of SiC

Rashin and Hemalatha

Pastoriza-Gallego et al.

Saeedinia et al. [126]

Namburu et al. [120]
Kwak and Kim [119]

Zennifer et al. [128]

Mosavian et al. [75]
nanoparticles with 9 wt% dispersed in a mixture of water and

Kole and Dey [39]

Anoop et al. [123]
Nguyen et al. [65]

Priya et al. [125]

Naik et al. [122]
ethylene-glycol (50/50 wt%) at 20 C and considering in particular
the inuence of nanoparticle crystal structure (-SiC and SiC). The
Reference

maximum viscosity increase was obtained for a cubic structure (SiC)

[124]

[127]
with the larger surface area.
Recently, the rheological behavior of SiC/EG nanouids for con-
centration of 0.21.0 vol% and 100 nm in diameter was investigated by
Newtonian (up to 0.1%) then shear-

Li et al. [40] who observed a transition from Newtonian to shear-

thinning behavior of nanouids at 0.6 vol%. Nanouid viscosity

Newtonian or shear-thinning
increase was governed by particle loadings and decrease in tempera-

following CuO loading and

ture.
A summary of above literature studies on viscosity of SiC nanouids
is provided in Table 4. In addition to concentration and temperature,

Shear-thinning
these studies revealed the role of pH in stability and viscosity of these

temperature
Newtonian

Newtonian

Newtonian
Newtonian

Newtonian

Newtonian
nanouids.
Rheology

thinning

4.2.7. Magnetic-nanouids

Nanofluid viscosity enhancement of 28% at 2.5 wt%, In recent years, ferromagnetic and magnetite nanouids are
Viscosity increase depends on size and polydispersity

Viscosity decreases with NP loading, r=0.87 at 1 vol

Presence of aggregates, low shear viscosity increases

Hysteresis behavior of viscosity at above 57 C and

r=3 at 2.5 vol% and 30 C; presence of aggregates

Viscosity of nanofluids at 3 vol% equals 1.6 mPa s

receiving increase interest from researchers because of their various

of CuO, maximum r=1.73 at 1.7 vol% and 10 C

advantages. For example, the rheological properties as well as thermal

Maximum r=1.085 at 0.16 vol% and 55 C

conductivity of these nanouids can be controlled using external eld

Key results (relative viscosity, r)/remarks

Higher r of 4.5 at 30 C and 6.12 vol%

(e.g., magnetic eld) due to the alignment of nanoparticles.

Hong et al. [41] reported rheology and eect of temperature on
viscosity of their Fe3O4 (23 nm)/water nanouids and the viscosity of
this nanouid was found to decrease with temperature.
35 C and low shear rate
r=3 at 2 wt% and 30 C

Phuoc and Massoudi investigated the inuence of shear rate and

r=1.043 at 1.2 vol%
with volume fraction

nanoparticle concentration on viscosity of their aqueous Fe2O3 (20

40 nm) nanouids [29]. Two dierent types of surfactants (PVP and
r=1.3 at 6 vol%
above 4.5 vol%

PEO) were used and their eect on rheology of this nanouid was also
studied. They observed a signicant increase in viscosity with loading
of Fe2O3 nanoparticle. A maximum about 145% increase in viscosity
was reported at 4 vol% of this nanoparticle and at shear rate of 50 s1.
%

Vekas et al. [134] performed magneto-rheological measurements of

Temperature studied (

transformer oil (TR30)-based magnetite (Fe3O4) nanouids and ob-

served a slight increment in viscosity at low magnetic eld strength but
there was a strong increment in viscosity at magnetic eld of 0.04 T.
However, the viscosity decreased when magnetic eld strength in-
35 to 50

13 to 57

25140
2065

1050

2555

2070
3555

creased from 0.07 T onward.

580

Results of Abareshi et al. [135] showed a non-Newtonian shear-

25

24
20
C)

thinning nature of their -Fe2O3 (5 nm)/glycerol nanouids at low

Tiron (NP: Tiron ratio

concentration of nanoparticle. The enhanced viscosity was also found

to increase and decrease with increasing nanoparticle concentration
Surfactant used

and temperature, respectively.

In the absence of an external magnetic eld, Resiga et al. [45]
2.51)

studied eect of nanoparticle clustering on rheological properties of

Yes
No

No

No

No
No
No

No

No
No

No

highly concentrated transformer oil-based magnetic (67 nm) nano-

uids. Their nanouids was found to behave as a Newtonian uid
PG/W (60:40)
Summary of literature data related to viscosity of CuO nanofluids.

Coconut oil

(except at 20.8 vol%) and the viscosity increased with increasing

EG/W (60/
Base fluid

Base oil

nanoparticle concentration.
Sundar et al. [136] reported no noticeable eect of temperature on
40)

GO
EG

EG

EG
W

the viscosity of their Fe3O4 (13 nm)/W-based nanouid until about

0.161.7 vol%

45 C but there was a sharp increase in viscosity of this nanouid with

0.0110 vol%

0.1512 vol%

0.52.5 vol%

0.52.5 wt%
06.12 vol%

0.251 vol%
NP loadings

0.23 vol%
0.56 vol%

0.22 wt%

increasing temperature from 45 to 60 C.

1.25 vol%

0.16 vol%

Despite Newtonian nature of their polymer (PEG) base uid,

0.025

0.004

Moattar et al. [46] observed shear thinning behavior of their PEG-

based magnetite (Fe3O4 of 30 nm size) nanouids and considerable
CuO (polydisperse, 2737 nm,

inuence of magnetic eld on the shear viscosity was also reported.

CuO (near-spherical, 20 nm)
CuO (elongated,24430 nm)
CuO (prolate-spheroid, 10

CuO (spherical, 2535 nm)

CuO (spherical, < 50 nm)

CuO (spherical, 152 nm)

CuO (spherical, 29 nm)

CuO (spherical, 29 nm)

CuO (spherical, 50 nm)

CuO (spherical, 40 nm)

CuO (spherical, 50 nm)

4.2.8. Results summary of less-used nanouids

NP (shape and size)

The ndings of literature studies on the less-used nonmetallic

nanouids including afore-discussed ZnO, CuO, SiC, and magnetic
3012 nm)

814 nm)

nanouids are summarised here. It is noted that CNT, Al2O3, and TiO2
nanouids are considered to be widely used nanouids. Fig. 12
Table 3

presents results on viscosity of such nonmetallic nanouids with

volumetric concentration of nanoparticles at room temperature. Like

1146
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152

other nanoparticles, these less-used nonmetallic nanouids also

Singh et al. [129]

Timofeeva et al.

Timofeeva et al.

Lee et al. [132]

showed substantially higher viscosity when compared to their base

Nikkam et al.

Li et al. [40]
uids and the enhanced viscosity was found to increase substantially
Reference

with the volumetric loading of nanoparticles. For example, Masuda

[130]

[131]

[133]
et al. [96] observed a maximum 158% increase in viscosity of their SiO2
(12 nm)/W nanouids at 2.3 vol% concentration of this nanoparticle

Newtonian up to 0.6 vol% and shear-

and for 2.5 vol% concentration of CuO (40 nm) a maximum 168%

thinning at > 0.6 vol% and at low

increase in viscosity of gear oil was reported by Kole and Dey [39]. At
4 vol% concentration of Fe2O3 (2040 nm) nanoparticle similar sig-
nicant increase (145%) in viscosity of their surfactant added ( 0.2 wt%
PEO) water-based nanouid was also reported by Phuoc and Massoudi
[29]. Some of these nanouids showed almost linear increase in
viscosity with nanoparticle volume fraction [137,138]. Although
Chevalier et al.s [67] correlation (obtained by tting their own data
Newtonian

Newtonian

Newtonian

shear rate
Rheology

of SiO2/alcohol nanouid) and Nelsen [60] model showed reasonable

agreements with SiO2/EG and Fe3O4/W nanouids, respectively, none

of the models were actually able to predict the viscosity of other

r increases up to 45 C then decreases, lower than with water
r increases up to 45 C, better enhancement with smaller NP,

Maximum r enhancement of 102% at 3 vol% of NP and 30 C

nanouids as shown in Fig. 12.

Higher relative viscosity r=2.7 at 45 C and 7.4 vol% of NP

as base uid, better enhancement also with smaller NP, r

Fig. 13 depicts literature results on temperature dependence of

r (-SiC) < 1.6 following nanoparticle size and impurity

relative viscosity of nanouids containing various less-used oxide

Higher relative viscosity r=1.65 at 25 C and 1 vol%

nanoparticles in dierent base uids. Similar to results of other

nanouids, Fig. 13 demonstrates a very mixed inuence of temperature
on the enhancement of viscosity of these nanouids. While several
Key results (relative viscosity, r)/remarks

studies (e.g., Murshed et al. [33], Namburu et al. [120] and Rudyak
et al. [139]) found no considerable or positive (viscosity decreasing)
inuence of temperature on the relative viscosity of their nanouids,
other studies (e.g., Kole and Dey [39], Masuda et al. [96] and Sundar
et al. [136]) reported a scattered but considerable negative eect
r around1.87 at 45 C

(viscosity increasing) of temperature on the viscosity of their nano-

around1.63 at 45 C

uids particularly at higher temperatures. For instance, Kole and Dey

r (-SiC)=1.12

[39] found a very uctuating eect of temperature on the enhancement

of viscosity of their gear oil-based CuO nanouid particularly above
50 C. However the viscosity of this CuO nanouid was found to
increase almost linearly with temperature up to 50 C. Murshed et al.
[33] also reported decreasing of the relative viscosity of their silicone
Temperature studied

oil-based SiO2 nanouids with increasing temperature. Sundar et al.

[136] demonstrated that the temperature had no noticeable eect on
the viscosity of their Fe3O4 (13 nm)/W nanouid until about 45 C but
further increase in temperature decreased the viscosity signicantly.
1555

1545

1585

2872

2560

Whereas Namburu et al. [120] observed no considerable inuence of

(C)

20

temperature on the relative viscosity of CuO/EG+W (60/40) nanouids

Surfactant used

within their studied temperature range of 2050 C. All these indicate

that the magnitude of inuence of temperature on the enhancement of
viscosity of nanouids depends on the range of temperature, types and
sizes of nanoparticles as well as their base uids. However, decreasing
Yes
No

No

No

No

No

viscosity of nanouids (nf) with increasing temperature is widely

reported in the literature and this is similar to the inuence of
W and EG/

W/EG (50/
W (50/50)
Base fluid

temperature on viscosity of any pure uids. This is understandable as

Summary of literature data related to viscosity of SiC nanofluids.

the higher the uid temperature the larger the intermolecular distance
50)
EG
W

which results reduction of the viscosity of uids.

Nevertheless, in order to be conclusive on the eect of temperature
0.0013 vol%
1.87.4 vol%
NP loadings

4.1 vol% for

4.1 vol% for

0.21 vol%

in changing the viscosity of nanouids more systematic studies are to

all NPs

all NPs

be conducted for various types of nanouids and for a wide range of

9 wt%

temperatures, including very high temperatures due to potential

application of nanouids in solar systems and other high temperature
environments.
-SiC (polydisperse; 16 nm, 29 nm,

-SiC (polydisperse; 16 nm, 29 nm,

-SiC (crystal form, 85115 nm)

SiC (polydisperse angular and

4.3. Eect of nanoparticles size and shape on viscosity

-SiC (spherical, 3060 nm)
platelet, 130170 nm)

SiC (Spherical, < 100 nm)

66 nm and 90 nm)

66 nm and 90 nm)

Besides nanoparticles concentration and temperature, nanoparti-

SiC (spherical,30 nm)
NP (shape and size)

cles size and shape also inuence the viscosity of nanouids. However,
only a handful of studies examined the eect of these two factors on the
viscosity of nanouids. Here eect of nanoparticles size on viscosity has
been discussed rst followed by nanoparticles shape eect.
Table 4

Among limited studies, results on nanoparticles size-dependent

viscosity are not consistent and sometimes opposite. Some researchers

1147
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
Fig. 12. Increase in viscosity of various other nonmetallic nanouids with volumetric
concentration of nanoparticles.
showed viscosity of nanouids increased with increasing size of
nanoparticles while others found a decrease in viscosity with increasing
size of the nanoparticles. Fig. 14 depicts some literature results that
showed the relative viscosities of various nanouids increase with
increasing nanoparticles size. On the other hand, Fig. 15 demonstrates
that the relative viscosity of these nanouids decrease substantially
with increasing the size of nanoparticles which is highly desirable in
terms of application and agglomeration of nanoparticles. Furthermore,
some researchers found no remarkable inuence of nanoparticles size
on viscosity of nanouids. For example, Prasher et al. [27] showed that
relative viscosity of their Al2O3/propylene glycol was largely indepen-
dent of size (diameter) of Al2O3 nanoparticles, which is again a sign of a
Newtonian uid.
Jia-Fei et al. [140], Namburu et al. [141], and Chevalier et al. [67]
found decreasing viscosity of their nanouids with increase SiO2
nanoparticle size. Pastoriza-Gallego et al. [124], Lu and Fan [142],
and Anoop et al. [123,143] also reported similar results of decreasing
viscosity with increasing nanoparticle size for CuO and Al2O3 nano-
particles-dispersed nanouids. For Al2O3/AFN (AntifrogenN) nano-
uids Behi and Mirmohammdi observed decreasing of viscosity with
increasing nanoparticle size for both with sonication (20 min) and
without sonication [76]. Recently, Sharifpur et al. [74] investigated the
eect of nanoparticle size on viscosity of Al2O3/glycerol-based nano-
uids and also found considerable decreasing of viscosity of their
nanouid with increasing the size of nanoparticles.
Fig. 13. Eect of temperature on viscosity of various less-used oxide nanouids.
1148
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
On the other hand, He et al. [49] demonstrated that the viscosity of
their TiO2/W nanouids increased with increasing size of nanoparti-
cles.
Nguyen et al. [66] found that the viscosity of nanouids containing
36 nm sized Al2O3 is lower than that of 47 nm Al2O3 particles and the
dierence of viscosity values between these two sized nanoparticles
became more pronounced at volume fraction higher than 5%.
Murshed et al. [13] previously studied eect of size of Al2O3
nanoparticle on the viscosity of their aqueous nanouids. Two dierent
sizes (80 nm and 150 nm) of nanoparticles were used and results for
two dierent concentrations showed that the larger the particle size,
the higher the viscosity increase. It was augmented that larger particles
yield larger weight of their agglomeration compared to smaller
particles in base uids leading to higher eective viscosity of their
suspensions.
Abdelhalim et al. [79] reported that their gold nanoparticles with
larger size (50 nm) exhibited higher viscosity than those with smaller
particles (10 nm and 20 nm).
Nevertheless, the reasons for such opposite eect of nanoparticles
size on viscosity of nanouids are not well understood and need more
studies and analyses to explore the real mechanisms.
Only a few studies have investigated the eect of shape of
nanoparticles on the viscosity of nanouids. Fig. 16 presents results
from literature studies on the inuence of shape of nanoparticles on
their viscosity. Timofeeva et al. [103] found higher viscosity of EG+W
based nanouids with platelets shape Al2O3 nanoparticles compared to
their nanouids with brick shape nanoparticles. Murshed et al. [13]
also measured viscosity of aqueous nanouids containing two dierent
shapes (spherical and rod) of TiO2 nanoparticles and found that
nanouids with sphere shape nanoparticles exhibit larger viscosity
than that of nanouids with rod shape nanoparticles.
Studying the inuence of nanoparticle shape on convective heat
transfer performance of water-based SiO2 and ZnO nanouids,
Ferrouillat et al. [144] observed that ZnO/W nanouid with rod-
shaped nanoparticles exhibited slightly low viscosity as compared to
that of polygonal nanoparticles. On the other hand, viscosity of SiO2/W
nanouid with banana-shaped nanoparticles was found close to that of
their spherical nanoparticles. Nonetheless, the eect of nanoparticles
shape on the viscosity of nanouids is also not conclusive demanding
more systematic investigations on this.
5. Nanouids viscosity for thermal applications
Like other thermo-physical properties such as specic heat (cp) and
thermal conductivity (k) viscosity and rheological properties of nano-
uids are also crucial for their thermal and energy applications. Infact,
Fig. 14. Increasing viscosity of nanouids with increasing size of nanoparticles.
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
Fig. 15. Decreasing viscosity of nanouids with increasing size of nanoparticles.
pumping power in energy and heat systems is related to nanouids
viscosity, and pressure drop in ow systems is directly linked to
viscosity. Furthermore, viscosity inuences heat transfer enhancement
of nanouids from forced convection and natural convection and
appears in many dimensionless numbers and coecients such as
Reynolds number, Rayleigh number, Prandtl number, Brinkman
number, and Colburn j factor used in thermal and uids sciences.
Consequently, viscosity is as important as thermal conductivity for the
determination of nanouids eciency in engineering systems for heat
transfer.
So, the practical use of nanouids in any thermal management
systems is based on a trade-o between their high thermal conductivity
and low viscosity related to nanoparticle loadings, size and shape, type
and uid temperature [145].
Hence, the performance of nanouids as cooling uids in compar-
ison with conventional base uids can be estimated with viscosity data
and other thermophysical properties.
With laminar ow, the benet of using nanouids is evaluated from
the ratio of viscosity and thermal conductivity enhancement, denoted
C and Ck respectively, and achieved when the following criterion is
satised [27,103,131,146]:
C / Ck < 4
However, this implies that both viscosity and thermal conductivity
ratio of nanouids linearly increase with respect to volume fraction of
nanoparticles, whatever the tested temperature, in the following forms.
nf / bf 1 + C
knf / kbf 1 + Ck
Under turbulent regime, the heat transfer rate and eciency of
nanouids depends on the whole of thermophysical properties of the
uid, and can be evaluated considering the Mouromtse number (Mo),
dened as follows [103,131,146]:
0.8 k 0.67cp0.33
Mo =
0.47
Thus a nanouid is considered to be ecient when the ratio of
Mouromtse numbers of nanouid and base uid is higher than 1. The
higher this ratio, the better the potential of the nanouid as cooling
uid.
Shear-thinning of nanouids implies to perform cooling eciency
evaluation at dierent shear rates and use variable viscosity data with
respect to shear rate in the previous relationships [147].
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 76 (2017) 11341152
Fig. 16. Eect of nanoparticles shape on viscosity of nanouids.
6. Conclusions
An extensive state of the art review of the research ndings and
progress on viscosity of nanouids is presented. This review revealed
that nanouids exhibit dierent rheological behaviors (Newtonian and
non-Newtonian) depending on various factors such as shear rate,
nanoparticles concentration and size, temperature, surfactant, sonica-
tion, dispersion state and presence of aggregates.
Viscosities of all nanouids were found higher than their base uids
and increased (except a handful of studies) with increasing nanopar-
ticles concentration. However, literature data from various research
groups are very scattered and not consistent even for the same
nanouids.
Literature survey conrmed a mixed inuence of temperature on
the viscosity of nanouids. While some studies reported no consider-
able or positive (decreasing viscosity) inuence of temperature on the
relative viscosity of nanouids, others found considerable negative
(increasing viscosity) eect of temperature on the viscosity of nano-
uids. Any decrease in viscosity of nanouids with increasing tem-
perature (i.e., positive inuence) is highly desirable for their applica-
tion at high temperature environments.
(29) Experimental results from the literature have also been compared
with the predictions from dierent classical and recent viscosity
models. Classical models were found unable to predict the viscosity
of nanouids. On the other hand, the empirical models proposed by
researchers in recent years for nanouids were based on tting their
(30) own experimental data and these empirical models are also not suitable
for the predictions of viscosity of other types of nanouids. Thus, it is of
great importance to develop a rigorous theoretical model by taking into
(31)
account all potential factors for the predictions of viscosity of any
nanouids.
Several other factors such as pH value, nanoparticle size and shape
also inuence the viscosity of nanouids. However, studies on the
eects of these factors are very limited. Thus more studies are to be
conducted to explore the eect of all these factors and their combined
eects on the viscosity of nanouids. Due to large number of
(32) parameters inuencing the rheology of nanouids, it is also needed
to develop a uniform and standardized procedure for the preparation of
nanouids and rheological characterization as well.
In addition to long-time stability, the development of practical use
of nanouids in advanced heat transfer is a wonderful scientic
challenge. This way will be based on a tradeo between high thermal
properties and low viscosity related to nanoparticle loadings, type, size
and shape as well as uids nature and temperature and requires
thermal enhancement and reduced penalizing eects of high viscosity.
1149
S.M.S. Murshed, P. Estell
Acknowledgements
This work is a contribution to the COST (European Cooperation in
Science and Technology) Action CA15119: Overcoming Barriers to
Nanouids Market Uptake (NANOUPTAKE).
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