Abstract
Aiming at the dispersion stability of nanofluids, we investigate the absorbency and the zeta potential of TiO2 and Al2O3 nanofluids under different pH values and different dispersant concentrations. The results show that in the mass fraction 0.05% alumina and 0.01% titanium dioxide nanosuspensions, the absolute value of the zeta potential and the absorbency of the two nanofluids with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) dispersant are the highest at an optimal pH (pHAl2O3 ≈ 6.0, pHTiO2 ≈ 9.5) and that there is a good correlation between absorbency and zeta potential: the higher the absolute value of the zeta potential is, the greater the absorbency is, and the better the stability of the system is. The optimizing concentrations for SDS are 0.10% and 0.14%, respectively, at which the two nanofluids have the best dispersion results. The calculated DLVO interparticle interaction potentials verify the experimental results of the pH effect on the stability behavior.