Nanomaterials for efficiently lowering the freezing point of anti-freeze coolants

In this paper, we report, for the first time, the effect of the lowered freezing point in a 50% water/50% anti-freeze coolant (PAC) or 50% water/50% ethylene glycol (EG) solution by the addition of carbon nanotubes and other particles. The experimental results indicated that the nano materials are much more efficient (hundreds fold) in lowering the freezing point than the regular ionic materials (e.g., NaCl). The possible explanation for this interesting phenomenon is the colligative property of fluid and relative small size of nano material. It is quite certain that the carbon nanotubes and metal oxide nano particles could be a wonderful candidate for the nano coolant application because they could not only increase the thermal conductivity, but also efficiently lower the freezing point of traditional coolants.