A complex investigation of electrical conductivity and pH of polyethylene glycol nanocolloids

This paper main aim is to shed some light into the electrical conductivity of several nanocolloids with polyethylene glycol as base fluid. A large number of suspensions were manufactured with polyethylene glycol PEG 200, PEG 400 and a mixture of these two as base fluids, while several kinds of oxide, metal and carbon nanotubes nanoparticles were considered. Consequently, 30 samples were experimentally investigated for electrical conductivity and the results were discussed in terms of state of the art and compared between each other. The experimental work results interpretation concluded that the electrical conductivity values are influenced by both base liquids, as well as nanoparticle type, even if low concentrated suspensions were investigated. Plus, the electrical conductivity variation with temperature is mainly influenced by the nature of the fluid and less by the nanoparticle type. Concluding, this experimental study on electrical conductivity and PH reveals several possible applications of nanocolloids in electric related real-life applications. • Electrical conductivity and potential of hydrogen was experimentally measured for a large number of nanocolloids • Two polyethylene glycols and two mixtures were employed as base fluids • Five types of nanoparticles influence on electrical conductivity of polyethylene glycols based nanocolloids was investigated • The variation of nanocolloids electrical conductivity with temperature was found to be linear. • Several equations were proposed for the estimation of electrical conductivity in studied ranges of temperature and concentration