Synthesis and thermal properties of new bionanofluids containing gold nanoparticles

New bionanofluids containing Au nanoparticles with different concentrations were prepared by chemical reduction method. The nanoparticles were mixed with biodiesel from soybean prepared using alkaline catalysts. Thermal properties of biodiesel containing Au nanoparticles with different volume percentage concentrations were measured by mismatched dual-beam mode thermal lens technique in order to measure the effect of the presence of nanoparticles (φ = 13.3 nm) on the bionanofluids thermal diffusivity. The characteristic time constant of the transient thermal lens was estimated by fitting the experimental data to the theoretical expression for transient thermal lens. The thermal diffusivity of the bionanofluids (biodiesel containing Au nanoparticles) seems to be strongly dependent on the presence of nanoparticles. It was observed an increase in the thermal diffusivity when volume percentage of nanoparticles increased. A possible explanation for such high thermal diffusivity of the biodiesel with Au nanoparticles is given. UV–Vis spectroscopy and TEM microscopy techniques were used to characterize the bionanofluids.