Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Shear at the liquid/nano-fluid interface: Drag, slip, and friction.

Project description

Revealing new insight into nanofluid flow behaviour

Nanofluids are colloidal suspensions of nanometre-sized solid particles in a base fluid. A unique property is their modified flowing behaviour on surfaces stemming from internal structuring forces between nanospecies. This results in enhanced oil recovery compared to standard brine solutions. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NANOSLIP project plans to gain a better understanding of how nanofluids behave at the interface with oils. In particular, researchers will investigate how ultrathin film nanofluids can reduce drag in response to shear between an immiscible liquid and a solid surface via colloidal probe techniques. Further insight into nanofluid behaviour will propel their use in oil recovery, lubrication, heat dissipation, soil remediation, nanomedicine and colloidal stability.

Objective

Nano-fluids (NFs) are colloidal suspensions of nano-species (NS) that are electrostatically or sterically stabilised, with aqueous NFs including nanoparticle suspensions (silica, sulfate latex), polyelectrolytes, and self-assembled structures including micelles, polymersomes and liposomes. NFs are used in many industrial/practical applications, including controlling colloidal assembly of larger nano- and micro-sized species in solution, improving heat flux in industrial processes and solar collectors, reducing friction in oils and greases, enhanced drug delivery and as MRI contrast agents. A unique property of NFs is their modified spreading/flowing behaviour on surfaces due to internal structuring forces between NS, which enables NFs to displace immiscible liquids from surfaces. This enhanced spreading/flowing behaviour has demonstrated enhanced oil recovery compared to standard brine solutions and has been rationalised as due to a reduction of friction at the NF/oil interface. Aside from the presence of a stable nano-thin NF film beneath oil during displacement being confirmed optically via interferometry, there are no experiments to date that have probed this interface directly, and thus the friction/drag reducing properties at the liquid/NF interface remain unexplored. The scientific goal of this proposed project is to gain a better understanding of liquid flow at a liquid/NF interface, in particular, how the presence of an ultrathin film of NFs – with enhanced spreading and internal properties – can reduce drag in response to shear between an immiscible liquid and a solid surface via colloidal probe atomic force microscopy. Understanding this phenomenon will fill the current knowledge gap in the fields of NFs and boundary slip and will have direct impact on current applications of NFs in oil recovery, lubrication, heat dissipation, soil remediation, nanomedicine, and colloidal stability.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 212 933,76
Address
BEACON HOUSE QUEENS ROAD
BS8 1QU BRISTOL
United Kingdom

See on map

Region
South West (England) Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area Bristol, City of
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 212 933,76
My booklet 0 0