Impedance Spectroscopy of Nanofluids based on Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes

This work is a contribution to the understanding of the dielectric properties of nanofluids prepared by dispersing multiwalled carbon nanotubes in transformer oil. The dielectric measurements were carried out in the frequency range 100 Hz-1MHz at constant temperature, T = 300 K, for several volume fractions of the nanotubes in the base fluid. A relaxation phenomenon was induced in the nanofluid comparing to the base fluid. In addition, both the real and imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity changed with volume fraction of the nanotubes. These results suggest that the presence of the nanotubes greatly affect the dielectric properties of the oil as a result of polarization phenomenon induced by these nanoparticles. It was found that the measured effective dielectric permittivity follows the empirical Havriliak-Negami model. Nevertheless to take into account the electrode polarization effects, we rewrote this model, with a new term, which fits accurately the experimental data.