Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

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Journal of Molecular Liquids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molliq

Comprehensive characterization of glycerol/ZnO green nanofluids for

advances in multifunctional soft material technologies
R.J. Sengwa ⇑, Mukul Saraswat, Priyanka Dhatarwal
Dielectric Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur 342 005, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Nanofluids (NFs) are increasingly used in most of the areas of soft condensed matter technologies, espe-
Received 5 January 2022 cially for heat transfer, energy harvesting, electrical insulation, and in the development of a variety of
Revised 1 March 2022 optoelectronic devices and controllable systems. Nowadays, green nanofluids are of considerable interest
Accepted 11 March 2022
to researchers from an environmental safety point of view. Therefore, in this work, green nanofluids hav-
Available online 15 March 2022
ing biodegradable glycerol (GLY) as base fluid with homogeneous dispersion of eco-friendly zinc oxide
(ZnO) nanoparticles (concentration range 0.01–1.00 wt%) were prepared and comprehensively character-
Keywords:
ized by employing various advanced techniques for exploring their promising multifunctional properties.
Glycerol
Zinc oxide
The X-ray diffraction study of these GLY/ZnO green nanofluids, which is the first of its kind on nanofluids,
Green nanofluids confirmed the existence of monodispersed ZnO nanoparticles in the arranged 3D supramolecular struc-
Structural properties tural network of the glycerol fluid. The ZnO nanoparticles having higher suspension stability in the GLY
Dielectric dispersion fluid were able to exhibit all the characteristic crystalline diffraction peaks for the concentration
0.3
Thermophysical parameters 0 wt%, at which the visible range photons absorption became almost saturated. The detailed analysis
of the UV–Vis absorbance spectra of these nanofluids with increasing ZnO concentration explained sub-
stantial alterations in the electronic transition energy for the lone electron pairs of the hydroxyl oxygen
atoms of glycerol molecules and also the valence band electrons of the ZnO nanomaterial. Dielectric and
electrical spectra of these nanofluid materials are carried out in the harmonic field of 20 Hz to 1 MHz
range, at 25 °C. A small change in the static dielectric permittivity of these GLY/ZnO nanofluids with
the increase of ZnO concentration reveals some modifications in the parallel arranged dipolar ordering
of the glycerol molecules. The conductivity relaxation process ruled the electrical conductivity of the
GLY/ZnO nanofluids, but the low conductivity of these materials confirmed them as potential candidates
for electric insulating nanodielectrics. The decreased viscosity and the increased thermal conductivity
with some constructive changes in the acoustic parameters of these nanofluids were noted with the
increase of ZnO concentration. The experimental results on the structural, optical, dielectric, electrical,
and thermophysical properties of the GLY/ZnO nanofluids are technologically appealing and recognize
these as innovative multifunctional soft materials.
Ó 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction liquid and solid phases functional materials including numerous

In the last two decades, the ZnO material with a variety of crys-
talline nanostructures has attracted much attention as an
advanced smart material due to its extraordinary electronic and
optical properties [1–5]. This metal oxide is a well-established
non-toxic, bio-safe, and biocompatible compound semiconductor
of wide energy band gap (Eg ffi 3.3 eV) [1,4,5]. The ZnO crystals
are prominently used in the development of extensive advanced
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rjsengwa@rediffmail.com, rjs.ph@jnvu.edu.in (R.J. Sengwa).
novel nanofluids for the heat transfer systems [6–12], optical
materials for energy harvesting devices [3,10,13,14], photocataly-
sis [5,15,16], sensors [17], antibacterial and drug release controller
in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products [9,18], and polymer
nanocomposites for flexible optoelectronic and microelectronic
devices [19–23].
In regards to the nanofluids dispersed with ZnO nanoparticles,
these are largely prepared using water, ethylene glycol, and oils
as base fluids, and are mostly characterized for their thermal con-
ductivity and viscosity behaviour in regards to evaluating their
suitability in heat transfer systems [6–8,10–12,24–29]. To the best

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2022.118925
0167-7322/Ó 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

of our knowledge, the glycerol (GLY) and ZnO-based GLY/ZnO 2. Experimental

nanofluids are less attempted [30] especially to establish a correla-
tion between their structural, optical, and dielectric properties 2.1. Materials
with the variation of ZnO concentration for the technological
advances. Glycerol (GLY) of purity greater than 99.0% for spectroscopy
Glycerol (propane-1,2,3-triol) is categorized as a green polar grade was purchased from HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., India.
solvent owing to its biodegradable, biocompatible, water soluble, The nanopowder sample of zinc oxide (ZnO) having particle sizes
and non-toxic characteristics, and therefore it has been realized less than 100 nm, density 5.6 g/cc, and surface area 10–25 m2/g
for versatile technological and industrial uses which are thor- was procured from Sigma-Aldrich Co., USA.
oughly demonstrated in the recent reviews [31–34]. Three alco-
holic hydroxyl groups (–OH) in the GLY molecular formula OH–
2.2. Preparation of nanofluids
CH2–CH(OH)–CH2–OH make it highly interactive with all kinds
of inorganic/organic additives. Furthermore, the high viscosity,
The GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids comprises GLY as base fluid
elevated boiling point, low vapour pressure, and appreciable
and different weight percent (x (wt%)) amounts of ZnO nanopow-
dielectric polarization strength altogether realize the GLY as an
der to the weight of GLY (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and
attractive green base fluid for the preparation of nanofluids hav-
1.00) were prepared following a standard two-step method. In
ing better suspension stability of the nanoparticles. Investigations
the first step, the GLY was taken into a stoppered glass bottle by
on glycerol-based nanofluids have established that these are
the required amount of volume and simultaneously its weight
extremely promising materials from technological points of view
was measured. In the second step, the correct weight of the ZnO
because of their high thermal stability and also good suspension
nanopowder for a particular weight concentration x (wt%) was
durability of the dispersed nanoparticles in the high viscous
taken and then added to the GLY base fluid previously filled in
GLY fluid [35–38], which are critical characteristics required to
the bottle. An analytical electronic balance (Wensar Weighing
maintain longer workability performance of the nanofluid
Scales Limited, Chennai, India, model: MAB 250) with a standard
[26,29,39].
uncertainty of 0.01 mg was used for the weight measurements.
A careful review of literature pointed out that there is a research
To get the homogeneous dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles into the
gap on the XRD study of nanofluids for their structural characteri-
GLY fluid medium, firstly the GLY/ZnO material was continuously
zation and the confirmation of nanoparticles suspension stability,
stirred for about 30 min at about 25 °C, with gradual increasing
especially in the case of crystalline nanoparticles. Mostly the XRD
the speed of the bar magnet up to 1000 rpm by employing a mag-
traces of the powder nanoparticles are reported for their structural
netic bar stirrer (Sudarshan Chemical, Kota, India, model: AlphaTM).
confirmation [11,25,27,40,41] which were then used for the prepa-
Thereafter, this bar magnet stirred solution was sonicated for
ration of nanofluids, but such nanofluids have not been character-
10 min using a high-energy probe sonicator operated with con-
ized in detail with the XRD technique, so far. Additionally, in most
trolled power for 15 s On/Off through cyclic timer (Trans-O-
of the researches, the UV–Vis measurements are performed for
sonic, Mumbai, India; model: TOS Ultrasonic Disintegrator - power
checking the homogeneity and stability of nanoparticles in the
250 W and frequency 20 kHz). In the probe sonication process,
nanofluids with repetitive measurements after appropriate inter-
high pressure cavitations were generated by the directly inserted
vals [11,25,28,42–44]. However, the detailed study of electronic
probe into the sample, and their transmission crushed the aggre-
transitions and energy band gaps of the nanofluids having a sus-
gated nanoparticles and turned the nanofluid sample of very high
pension of wide band gap nanoparticles with the concentration
homogeneity. During the sonication, the heat was generated in
variations are less attempted to confirm their suitability in liquid
the medium by absorbing the propagating ultrasonic wave energy
phase optical devices and also the photovoltaic/thermal systems
(acoustic energy) and hence, the temperature of the sample solu-
[10,44,45]. Furthermore, a correlation has not been made yet,
tion was increased by about 60 °C. All the GLY/ZnO nanofluids with
between the particles suspension stability and homogeneity in
different concentrations of ZnO were prepared by following the
nanofluids with the simultaneous analysis of their XRD and UV–
same steps.
Vis spectroscopic results. In addition to this research gap, the
Digital picture of these GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00,
dielectric and electrical characterization with frequency variation
0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00 wt%) is shown in Fig. 1. This picture
of the harmonic electric field using dielectric relaxation spec-
shows that the glycerol sample is a clear transparent fluid, and the
troscopy (DRS) is less performed on the nanofluids to explore the
GLY/ZnO nanofluid degree of transparency reduced largely as the
character of molecule-nanoparticle interaction and their effect on
ZnO concentration was increased from 0.01 to 0.05 wt%. At higher
fluid dipolar ordering in the case of H-bonded base fluid, and also
ZnO concentrations (i.e., 0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt%), these nanofluids
the changes in dielectric relaxation processes [46,47]. However,
appeared dense milky and turned opaque. Furthermore, sedimen-
relative dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity studies
of some important nanofluids were performed and thoroughly
analyzed to explore the effect of particles sizes and the type of base
fluids on the dielectric polarization and charge conduction beha-
viour [48,49].
Therefore, after the deliberation of all the above-mentioned
facts, the present paper deals with XRD, UV–Vis, and DRS charac-
terization techniques employed simultaneously on the GLY/ZnO
nanofluids, having different concentrations of ZnO, to understand
in detail their structural properties and promising multifunctional-
ity for advances in condensed matter technologies. Additionally,
the thermophysical properties like viscosity, density, ultrasonic
velocity, thermal conductivity, and several important acoustic
parameters of these nanofluids were also characterized for explor-
ing their appropriateness as conventional energy transporting/har- Fig. 1. Digital photograph of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05,
vesting materials. 0.30, and 1.00).

2
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
tation of the ZnO nanoparticles in these nanofluids was found
insignificant when kept for a longer duration and seen with naked
eyes. The assessment of sedimentation was experimentally per-
formed using the UV–Vis absorbance spectra and the XRD traces
of these materials which were thoroughly discussed in the follow-
ing ‘Results and discussion’ section. These experimental results
confirmed that the nanoparticles suspension stability level is high
due to which the homogeneity was retained and therefore, there is
no challenge in alteration of their performance with time elapse.
2.3. Measurements
The crystallographic characteristics of the GLY/ZnO nanofluids
were explored from their XRD traces recorded by employing an
X-ray diffractometer (Malvern PANalytical B.V., Almelo, Nether-
lands, model: X0 pert Pro Multi-Purpose Diffractometer). The Cu-
Ka monochromatic X-ray beam of wavelength k = 0.15406 nm
was generated by the X-ray tube at 1800 W with a bias supply of
45 kV and 40 mA. For the XRD measurements, the nanofluid sam-
ple was filled in the powder sample holder and then recorded its
XRD trace in reflection mode operation of the diffractometer over
a wide angular range 2h from 10° to 70° with a scan step of
0.05 deg/s. The XRD traces of the nanofluids were recorded filling
them one by one in the sample holder at the ambient temperature.
The optical characterizations of the nanofluids are performed
from the ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorbance spectra recorded
in the wavelength range from 200 nm to 800 nm with an accuracy
of 1 nm. A dual-beam UV–Vis spectrophotometer (Agilent Tech-
nologies Pvt. Ltd., USA, model: Cary 60 controlled with Cary WinUV
software) was used for UV–Vis absorbance measurements at ambi-
ent temperature. For these measurements, each sample was filled
one after another in the quartz cuvette of 3 ml volume and 1 cm
width, and the experiment was executed at a scan rate of 10 nm/
s with subtraction of baseline corrections.
Dielectric spectra of the GLY/ZnO samples were determined
from capacitance and resistance measurements using a precision
inductance-capacitance-resistance (LCR) meter of the harmonic
field frequency range from 20 Hz to 1 MHz. For the electrical mea-
surements with ASTM D150 standard, the 4284A LCR meter having
compatible 16452A parallel plates four-terminals liquid test fix-
ture of Agilent Technologies Pvt. Ltd., USA, was used. The complex
dielectric permittivity e*(x) = e0 – je00 values as a function of fre-
quency, at a fixed temperature of 25 °C, were determined with
the relative combined uncertainty of less than 1%. The values of
various transformed complex electrical functions viz. alternating
current (ac) electrical conductivity r*(x) = r0 + jr00 , electric mod-
ulus M*(x) = M0 + jM00 , and impedance Z*(x) = Z0 – jZ00 were com-
puted by the mutual relations 1/e*(x) = M*(x) = jxC0Z*
(x) = jxe0/r*(x) as described in detail elsewhere [50].
The ultrasound velocity u for the acoustic wave of frequency
f = 2 MHz propagating in the nanofluid sample was measured by
employing a Nanofluid Interferometer and its compatible TC–2 test
cell (Mittal Enterprises Co., New Delhi, India, model: NF-10X). The
standing wave pattern was produced in the sample filled ther-
mostated test cell from which the wavelength k in the liquid sam-
ple was noted. The velocity of the propagating ultrasound was
computed using wave equation u = f k with the standard uncer-
tainty of 0.2 m/s. Various acoustic parameters and thermal conduc-
tivity of the samples were determined using the ultrasonic velocity
based relations which are demonstrated in the following section
3.4.3.
The dynamic viscosity of these GLY/ZnO nanofluids was mea-
sured at a fixed shear rate of 4 s1 by employing a rotational vis-
cometer (rheometer) equipped with a compatible APM sample
adapter cell of 8 ml capacity and a TL-5 cylindrical spindle (Fungi-
lab S.A., Barcelona, Spain, model: Alpha series L). Before nanofluids
3
Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925
measurements, calibration of the microprocessor controlled this
viscometer was done following the manufacturer instructions.
During the sample measurements, the required torque was main-
tained in the range provided by the manufacturer (i.e., 15% to
100%) for the standard uncertainty of 1%.
The density measurements of the nanofluid samples were per-
formed by filling them in a precision relative density bottle of
10 ml capacity capped with a fine capillary Teflon cap (Borosil
Glass Works Ltd. Bharuch, India; Catalogue Code 1624006), and
weighing up to an accuracy of 0.01 mg using analytical electronic
balance (Wensar, India, model: MAB 250). Prior to sample mea-
surements, the density bottle was tested using deionized water
at 25 °C and noted the standard uncertainty of 0.005 kg/m3. The
refractive index of these nanofluid samples was measured with a
resolution of 0.0001 using an Abbe refractometer (Mittal Enter-
prises Co., New Delhi, India, model: MA-02).
The temperature of the sample, during the measurements with
the LCR meter, ultrasonic nanofluid interferometer, viscometer,
density bottle, and Abbe refractometer was thermostated at
25 °C by employing a temperature controller of accuracy 0.01 °C
(Thermo-Haake, Germany, model: Haake DC 10) fitted along with
heating and cooling devices in the water circulating bath (Escy
Enterprises, Pune, India, model: Z).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Structural properties
The XRD pattern of the ZnO nanopowder has intense and sharp
diffraction peaks (see the upper layer of Fig. 2) confirming the crys-
talline structure of its nanoparticles [20] with a high degree of
crystallinity that is about 93% as reported previously [51]. The
hkl indices marked on the peaks of various planes of ZnO identified
its hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structures explained in the ear-
lier study [20]. The XRD pattern of highly viscous polyol glycerol
fluid (labeled with x = 0.00 in the lower layer of Fig. 2) exhibited
a substantial intense peak at 2h of 20.87° suggesting some amount
of crystalline phase present in its molecular structure. It seems that
the ordered chain structure of the H-bonded GLY molecules real-
ized the diffraction plane of some crystalline phases. This beha-
viour is found similar to that of the H-bonded chain structure in
the flexible semicrystalline poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix [20]. The
study on dipole moment, static dielectric permittivity, Kirkwood
correlation factor (a measure of the degree of parallel aligned
dipoles in the H-bonded chain-like molecular structure), and a
molecular reorientation dynamics explained that the glycerol
molecules in its high viscous liquid phase form a dense H-boned
three-dimensional (3D) ordered supramolecular structural net-
work [52,53]. These findings support the appearance of diffraction
peak in the XRD pattern of the liquid glycerol system noted in this
study. Additionally, a low-temperature crystallographic XRD data
collection and their detailed analysis with the help of crystal struc-
ture software package established that the glycerol molecules
assembled through H-bonding have formed 2D wave-like sheet
structures, and these sheet structures also connected through H-
bonding resulted into the 3D structure of crystalline glycerol [54]
also favouring the XRD result of this study.
Fig. 2 explains that when the ZnO nanoparticles were dispersed
in the glycerol 3D network structure, then several structural mod-
ifications occurred which are reflected from the comparative
changes in the shape of the XRD traces of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanoflu-
ids. Firstly, the glycerol peak was significantly modified with
reduced intensity and also an alteration in the width confirming
the formation of electrostatic interaction between the glycerol
molecules and the ZnO nanoparticles, and as a result of this fact,
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
Fig. 2. XRD patterns of the ZnO nanopowder and the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids
(x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00).
some alterations in the glycerol ordered 3D supramolecular struc-
ture occurred which further changed with the variation of ZnO
concentration in these nanofluids. For the confirmation of alter-
ation in glycerol crystallite structure, the values of peak position
2h, d-spacing between the glycerol H-bonded 2D sheet structure
d (d = k/2sinh), crystallite size L (L = 0.94k/bcosh), and interchain
separation distance R (R = 5k/8sinh) were determined for the
GLY/ZnO nanofluids and these structural parameters are listed in
Table 1. It can be read from this table that there are significant vari-
ations in these crystal structure parameters of GLY with the
increase of ZnO concentration which evidence alteration in the
supramolecular structural network of the glycerol molecules due
to their interaction with ZnO nanoparticles.
4
Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925
Secondly, the ZnO peaks are little noticeable in the glycerol fluid
at 0.05 wt% revealing that there were no aggregates and sedimen-
tation of the dispersed nanoparticles, and the nanofluid bears high
homogeneity. Thirdly, at 0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt% concentrations,
the ZnO peaks appeared in the XRD traces of these nanofluids con-
firming that the suspended nanoparticles have settled in a highly
arranged planar structure with appreciable suspension stability.
Due to this fact, all the conditions of Bragg’s law satisfied and the
characteristic crystal diffraction peaks of the ZnO have appeared
reasonably intense. Fourthly, there is more than three times
increase in the intensity of the ZnO peaks with the increase of its
concentration from 0.30 wt% to 1.00 wt% in the glycerol base fluid
revealing an increase in density of orderly arranged suspended ZnO
nanoparticles which are as expected due to higher concentration of
loaded nanoparticles as concluded from the XRD results of numer-
ous flexible-type polymer nanocomposites [20,21,23]. Further-
more, all the crystalline peaks of the ZnO are clearly noticeable
in the nanofluid and their relative intensities are also found in
the order that is of pure ZnO powder when 1.00 wt% ZnO nanopar-
ticles are suspended in GLY fluid. This finding evidenced an appro-
priate formation of three-dimensional crystallographic
arrangement of the suspended nanoparticles in the base fluid.
And lastly, the positions of the ZnO diffraction peaks slightly
shifted to higher 2h values in the nanofluids as compared to that
of the pristine ZnO powder, which infers that the interaction of
glycerol molecules with ZnO particles also modified the surface
area of the nanoparticles.
With the consideration of these XRD results on the GLY/ZnO
nanofluids, herein, we propose a structural network of the GLY
fluid-based nanofluid having ZnO concentration
0.30 wt% as
shown in Fig. 3. In this figure, the 2D wave-like H-bonded chains
of glycerol molecules assembled in sheet form turned into the 3D
supramolecular network by mutual H-bonding of the 2D sheets.
The ZnO nanoparticles are set orderly arranged between the glyc-
erol molecular sheets and satisfy all the Bragg’s law conditions of
the crystalline ZnO material. Due to the high viscosity of the GLY
fluid and the molecule-particle electrostatic interaction, the GLY
supramolecular structural network is capable to hold the dispersed
ZnO nanoparticles with greater suspension stability and producing
the characteristic diffraction peaks of the ZnO in the base fluid. The
fluid-nanoparticle structural arrangement, as sketched in Fig. 3 for
the GLY/ZnO nanofluids is exclusive in regards to the high viscosity
base fluid and the dispersed crystalline nanoparticles. This struc-
tural arrangement may be interesting to understand the structural
assembly of other nanofluids with similar physicochemical
properties.
3.2. Optical properties
The UV–Vis characterization of the nanofluids is frequently con-
ducted to have an idea about the stability of the suspended
nanoparticles and aggregation/sedimentation with the elapsed
time [11,25,28,42–44] and also to explore the usable properties
related to their photovoltaic/thermal applications [10,43,44,55].
But in addition to these applications, the nanofluids having the
optoelectronic nanomaterial can be characterized in detail their
optical properties by UV–Vis spectroscopy for the identification
of suspended optical nanoparticles, their relative concentration,
and also the behaviour of electronic transitions in such liquid
phase materials. Keeping these facts in mind, herein, we performed
the UV–Vis measurements of the GLY/ZnO nanofluids for the
detailed optical characterization, and also to explore their possible
optoelectronic applications, and also to identify a correlation with
some of the structural properties confirmed from the XRD mea-
surements in the previous section.
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

Table 1
Values of the glycerol crystallographic parameters (diffraction peak position 2h, d-spacing between H-bonded molecular chains sheets d, full width at half maximum FWHM,
crystallite size L, and interchain separation distance R) in the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (NFs; x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00).

NFs 2h d FWHM L R
x (wt%) (deg) (nm) (10–3 rad) (nm) (nm)
0.00 20.89 0.425 80.74 1.82 0.531
0.05 21.53 0.412 64.44 2.29 0.516
0.30 21.20 0.419 61.76 2.38 0.523
1.00 20.75 0.428 76.86 1.92 0.535

Fig. 3. The sketch of hydrogen–bonded 3D supramolecular structure of glycerol molecules along with orderly arranged ZnO nanoparticles. The electrostatic interaction
between the glycerol molecules and ZnO nanoparticles provided high suspension stability to the nanoparticles in the highly viscous media. This structure satisfied the Bragg’s
law conditions and produced the characteristic diffraction peaks of ZnO for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluid samples for x
0.30. In the sketched GLY/ZnO nanofluid structure,
the sizes of the constituent are not in exact molecular and particle scales.

The UV–Vis absorption spectra of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanoflu-
ids are shown in Fig. 4a. These spectra infer several appealing fea-
tures related to the characteristic optical behaviour of the glycerol
base fluid and the optoelectronic properties of the zinc oxide nano-
material. The UV–Vis spectrum of pure glycerol confirms that the
GLY is a transparent fluid covering the entire visible wavelength
range of photons and, also showing insignificant absorbance in
the higher wavelength UV radiations (UV-A and UV-B bands). This
optical behaviour of the glycerol signifies that the energy of the
electromagnetic radiations of this wavelength range is not suffi-
cient to excite the lone pair electrons of the oxygen atoms present
in the hydroxyl groups of glycerol molecules. However, at a lower
wavelength UV radiation, an absorbance band has appeared in two
steps (initial onset around 240 nm and the later step onset around
215 nm) which signifies the n ? r* electronic transitions associ-
ated with the lone pair electrons of the oxygen atoms which has
been also reported and discussed for some other alcohols in the
previous literature [56].
In comparison to the pure glycerol UV–Vis absorbance spec-
trum, the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids exhibited extremely different
characteristic absorption spectra (see Fig. 4a). Initially, with a small
addition of ZnO nanoparticles (0.01 wt%) in the glycerol fluid, a sig-
nificant absorption in the visible region was exhibited. The absor-
bance value was increased exponentially when the wavelength of
the photon was decreased, and at the start of the UV region, the
absorption turned into a sharp peak at around 375 nm representing
the ZnO plasmonic characteristics [20,23,25]. Thereafter, absor-
bance attained steady-state up to the UV range of about 240 nm
which is the onset wavelength value of the GLY absorbance band.
These changes are related to the characteristic optical properties
of the ZnO nanomaterial dispersed in the glycerol fluid. When the
concentration of ZnO was increased from 0.01 wt% to 0.02 wt%,
the absorbance further increased in the visible range and appeared
almost twice in the UV region with displaying the identical charac-
teristic of ZnO peak and a sharp absorbance band related to the
electronic transition from the oxygen atoms of glycerol molecules.
This finding evidenced the double concentration of the suspended
ZnO nanoparticles, which is 0.02 wt% in comparison to 0.01 wt%
concentration and supports the similar higher suspension stability
of the dispersed nanoparticles. At 0.05 wt% concentration of ZnO,
there is extremely high absorption for the visible range photons
and the increasing trend of absorption value has appeared in two
steps with decreased wavelength. Initially, there is a large increase
in absorption with a reducing wavelength from 800 nm to 600 nm
range, and then a gradual increase in the 600 nm to 400 nm range.
Lastly, the sample exhibited the ZnO characteristic plasmon peak at
about 375 nm and then turned saturated in the remaining UV wave-
length range. The ZnO peak position in the UV–Vis spectra of these
nanofluids remained unaltered besides the increase in its concen-
tration confirming that there was no aggregation of the nanoparti-
cles because in such cases the peak shifts relatively to a higher
wavelength side [25].
Fig. 4a illustrates that when the ZnO concentration increased to
0.30 wt% the absorbance turned almost saturated (possible maxi-

5
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

Fig. 4. (a) UV–Vis absorbance spectra of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), (b) plots of absorbance (Abs.) versus x (wt%) of ZnO for the
nanofluids at fixed wavelengths (i.e., k = 600 nm and 800 nm), (c) Tauc plots ((ahm)2 versus hm) of the nanofluids showing the extrapolated dashed lines for determination of
various direct energy band gap (Egd) values, and (d) plots of energy band gaps (Egd) versus x (wt%) amounts of ZnO for the nanofluids.

mum level) from the beginning of the higher wavelength visible
region i.e., 800 nm, which evidenced that the arrangement of
nanoparticles turned sufficiently dense and are capable to shield
the transmission of visible photons. This UV–Vis absorbance result
on the nanofluid also favours its finding from the XRD trace in
which all the characteristic ZnO diffraction peaks are noted for
the 0.30 wt% concentration (see Fig. 2). In other words, we can sug-
gest that a nanofluid having crystalline nanomaterial can display
the characteristic diffraction peaks of the suspended nanoparticles
only when the visible range absorption became almost saturated.
For the 1.00 wt% concentration nanofluid there is complete satura-
tion of the absorption over the entire visible range and also the UV
range which explains that the ZnO nanoparticles in the glycerol
fluid are arranged in a more compact three-dimensional arrange-
ment and as a result of this fact the intensities of ZnO diffraction
peaks were noted significantly increased in the XRD trace. The vari-
ation of absorbance (Abs.) as a function of ZnO concentration x (wt
%) at fixed wavelengths 800 nm and 600 nm for the GLY/x (wt%)
ZnO nanofluids are shown in Fig. 4b. This figure explains that the
increase of absorbance is almost linear with the increase of ZnO
concentration up to 0.05 wt%, and thereafter, it turned saturated.
From these interpretations, we conclude that besides the use of
UV–Vis spectroscopy for the confirmation of nanoparticles suspen-
sion stability in the nanofluids, the XRD measurements also pro-
vided analogous and accurate information about the suspended
particles when they are of crystalline structures.

6
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

The optical material of energy band gap Eg in principle follow

the power law relation (ahm)m = B(hm–Eg) based on the incident
photons energy hm and absorption coefficient a. Here B is a con-
stant related to the extent of band tailing and the variable m value
is taken 2 for the direct energy band gap. This relation is in general
analyzed in the form of Tauc’s plots for the determination of Eg val-
ues of such optical material demonstrated in the literature [20,22].
The Tauc plots ((ahm)2 versus hm) of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanoflu-
ids, as shown in Fig. 4c, were used for the determination of their
direct energy band gap Egd values. The appropriate tangents
(shown by dashed lines) were drawn on these plots and the esti-
mated Egd values (viz. Egd1, Egd2, and Egd3) by the extrapolation
method for these nanofluids are listed in Table 2 and also plotted
against x (wt%) of ZnO in Fig. 4d for the interest of readers. Two dif-
ferent Egd values (Egd1 = 5.92 eV and Egd2 = 5.35 eV) were obtained
for the pure glycerol. The Egd1 represents the characteristic band
gap of glycerol that can be assigned to the n ? r* electronic tran-
sition from the oxygen atoms lone pair electrons. In addition to this
characteristic, a fewer probability of the higher energy electrons of
the oxygen atoms may get excited to the conduction band at the
EM-radiations of energy equal to Egd2 which is slightly lower than
that of the Egd1.
The GLY/ZnO nanofluid having 0.01 wt% concentration of ZnO
exhibited three energy band gaps (Egd1 = 5.43 eV, Egd2 = 5.05 eV,
and Egd3 = 3.15 eV). Out of these three, Egd1 and Egd2 are associated
with the electronic transition related to glycerol molecules
whereas Egd3 represents the energy band gap of ZnO material in
the nanofluid. An appreciable decrease in Egd1 and Egd2 values as
compared to that of the corresponding pure glycerol infers that
the interaction of ZnO nanoparticles with the glycerol molecules
promoted the transition of lone pair electrons of the oxygen atoms
of the glycerol hydroxyl groups. The Egd3 value is found a little
lower than that of the pure ZnO (Eg ffi 3.3 eV) which also evidences
that the glycerol interaction slightly favoured the transitions of
valence band electrons of the ZnO material. When the ZnO concen-
tration increased from 0.01 wt% to 0.02 wt% in the glycerol base
fluid, then only two band gaps viz. Egd2 = 4.34 eV and Egd3 = 3.13 eV
were observed. A huge decrease in Egd2 value as compared to the
pristine glycerol confirms that the molecule-nanoparticle interac-
tions are highly favourable for the glycerol electronic transition
and also to some extent for the ZnO transitions. At 0.05 wt% and
also the higher concentrations (0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt%) of the
ZnO, only Egd3 band gap is obtained which suggests the dominant
behaviour of ZnO electronic transition and these nanofluids of
ZnO concentration
0.05 wt% behave as pristine ZnO material as
far as their optical characteristics are concerned.
Fig. 5. Complex dielectric permittivity (e0 and e00 ) and dielectric loss tangent (tand)
spectra of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), at
25 °C. Inset of (a) shows the enlarged view of e0 spectra in the frequency range from
3.3. Dielectric and electrical spectra of nanofluids 5 kHz to 1 MHz, and inset of (b) shows the variation in e00 values with x (wt%)
amounts of ZnO for the nanofluids at 1 kHz.
3.3.1. Dielectric dispersion
Fig. 5 presents the 20 Hz to 1 MHz frequency range spectra of
dielectric functions (e0 , e00 , and tand = e00 /e0 ) for the GLY/x (wt%) ues showed firstly a gradual decrease and then turned steady state
ZnO nanofluids, at 25 °C. In the 100 Hz to 1 MHz range, the e0 val- in the high frequency range which represents the static dielectric
permittivity es of these nanofluid materials (see inset of Fig. 5a).
The es values noted from the steady-state range of the spectra,
Table 2 attributed to the molecular dipolar polarization which is a measure
Values of direct energy band gaps (Egd1, Egd2, and Egd3) for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
of energy storing ability of these dielectric nanofluids, and these
nanofluids (NFs; x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00).
values are listed in Table 3. The es value of pure GLY is found in
NFs Egd1 Egd2 Egd3 good agreement with the literature [57,58]. Fig. 5a confirms high
x (wt%) (eV) (eV) (eV)
e0 values of these materials at the initial frequencies of the spectra
0.00 5.92 5.35 – and the rapid decrease with sweeping the frequency from 20 Hz to
0.01 5.43 5.05 3.15 about 100 Hz, which represents a large contribution of the elec-
0.02 – 4.34 3.13
0.05 – – 2.71
trode polarization (EP) process. The effect of the EP process
0.30 – – 2.72 immensely suppresses when the frequency of the harmonic elec-
1.00 – – 2.68 tric field was increased. This type of e0 dispersion in the lower fre-

7
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

Table 3
Values of static dielectric permittivity es, dc electrical conductivity rdc, conductivity relaxation time sr, dc resistance Rdc, and refractive index nD for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids (NFs; x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), at 25 °C.

NFs es rdc sr Rdc nD

x (wt%) (10–8 S/cm) (ls) (kX)
0.00 41.52 4.22 88.4 215 1.4671
0.01 42.21 3.46 101.6 254 1.4661
0.02 42.05 3.63 99.1 241 1.4660
0.05 41.37 4.10 89.4 214 1.4660
0.30 41.33 6.98 54.6 125 1.4640
1.00 41.20 9.24 34.5 94 1.4631

quency range is a characteristic behaviour of the polar fluids, their

mixtures, and also of NF materials [58–64].
Linear behaviour of e00 versus f plots on the log–log scale
(Fig. 5b) evidenced that the dielectric losses in these nanofluids
are due to ohmic type charge conduction behaviour which is usu-
ally exhibited in the polar liquids over the static permittivity fre-
quency regime [58]. The inset given in this figure confirms that
at a fixed frequency of 1 kHz, the variation in energy losses are rel-
atively low for the nanofluids having a lower concentration of ZnO
(x  0.05 wt%) as compared to that of the pure glycerol, but it
increased significantly for the ZnO amount of 0.30 wt% and then
further increased for 1.00 wt%. In contrast to the linear behaviour
of e00 (f) plots, the tand plots (Fig. 5c) have non-linear rise with
the decrease of frequency below 1 kHz, and the nanofluids having
0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt% amounts of ZnO exhibited a relaxation peak
which can be assigned to the EP relaxation process in these mate-
rials. From the relative variation in the shape of these tand spectra,
it seems that the nanofluids having ZnO concentration less than
0.30 wt% may have a relaxation peak of the EP process below
20 Hz. Furthermore, in the 1 kHz to 1 MHz range, the tand values
are insignificant which also confirms that the dipolar losses are
negligible in these nanofluid materials which credited their appro-
priateness for energy storage over this experimental broader fre-
quency range where the e0 values remained almost frequency
independent.

3.3.2. AC electrical conductivity

The charge carriers concentration and their mobility in princi-
ple govern the electrical conductivity of the nanofluid materials
[49]. The study of electrical conductivity of nanofluids under the
harmonic field has importance for judging their suitability as nan-
Fig. 6. Complex alternating current (ac) electrical conductivity (r0 and r00 ) spectra
odielectric fluid for electrical insulations [7,46,47,65,66]. To under-
for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), at
stand the charge conduction mechanism in the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO 25 °C. Horizontal solid lines in (a) represent the dc conductivity rdc plateau and the
nanofluids, their r0 and r00 values were determined as a function inset of (b) shows the variation of r00 with x (wt%) amounts of ZnO for the
of frequency, at 25 °C, and these are plotted in Fig. 6. Over the nanofluids at 1 kHz.
20 Hz to several kHz frequency range, the r0 values are found fre-
the charge transport mechanism from dc to ac in these nanofluids
quency independent and therefore, the steady-state r0 values are
which are also observed in several polar fluids [50,60,62].
assigned to the direct current (dc) electrical conductivity rdc of
The r00 spectra of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids have appeared
these nanofluids. The rdc values, noted from the steady-state of
overlapped on the logarithmic scale and show linear behaviour
r0 spectra of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids are given in Table 3
with the frequency variation of the applied harmonic electric field.
which are the magnitude of 10–8 S/cm confirming the high insula-
A little deviation in r00 values from the linearity at the lower fre-
tion of these materials. Fig. 6 reveals that there is less change in r0
quencies is due to the contribution of the EP effect [61–63]. Inset
values for the nanofluids containing the ZnO concentration up to
of Fig. 6b evidences that, at a fixed frequency (1 kHz), there is
0.05 wt%, but a significant increase in r0 was noted at 0.30 wt%
anomalous variation in the r00 values with the increase of ZnO
concentration which further increased when the ZnO amount
amount in the glycerol fluid but this change is relatively small
was increased to 1.00 wt% in the glycerol base fluid. These results
for these nanofluids, and therefore all the r00 spectra seem over-
on electrical conductivity suggest that there is either an increase in
lapped on the log–log scale.
charge carriers concentration or a higher probability of the forma-
tion of favourable charge conductive paths which promote the
charge mobility at higher ZnO amounts in these nanofluids. A 3.3.3. Electric modulus spectra
noticeable enhancement in the r0 values with an increase of fre- The study of complex electric modulus spectra (M0 and M00 ) of
quency in the end range of the spectra is an indication of turning the dielectric materials has significance in the confirmation of
8
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
the conductivity relaxation process [60–62,64]. With this fact, the
M0 and M00 spectra as a function of f for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids, at 25 °C, are computed and presented in Fig. 7a. These
electric modulus spectra are mainly considered for the determina-
tion of conductivity relaxation time related to the charge conduc-
tion process in these nanofluid materials because these spectra
have numerous advantages over the dielectric spectra, as explained
in the earlier literature [60,61,64]. All these nanofluid materials
showed the identical shape of their modulus spectra. The M0 spec-
tra of GLY/ZnO nanofluids have initially almost zero values at
lower frequencies which enhanced sharply in the middle fre-
quency range and lastly attained a steady-state at higher frequen-
cies, whereas the M00 spectra have a sharp peak of conductivity
relaxation process in the middle range of experimental frequencies
(i.e., 1 kHz to 10 kHz). Furthermore, one can see that the M0 spectra
of the nanofluids have appeared almost overlapped up to 0.05 wt%
of ZnO but thereafter a separation is noted with their shift towards
the high frequency side for the 0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt% concentra-
tions. This change reflects some difference in conduction mecha-
nism in these nanofluids having ZnO concentration up to 0.05 wt
% and the other systems of higher concentrations
0.30 wt%.
The shifting in M00 spectra with ZnO concentration variation is
found identical to their M0 spectra for these nanofluid materials,
however, the height of the relaxation peak is found almost equal
for all the nanofluids.
In Fig. 7b, the M0 and M00 values are plotted together on the same
frequency scale for the GLY based nanofluid of 1.00 wt% ZnO con-
centration as a representative sample. This figure realizes that the
Fig. 7. (a) Complex electric modulus (M0 and M00 ) versus frequency (f) plots for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00) at 25 °C, (b)
simultaneous representation of M0 and M00 versus f, and (c) Debye type complex plane plot (M00 versus M0 ) for the GLY/1.00 (wt%) ZnO nanofluid, at 25 °C.
9
Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925
peak value of M00 is half of the maximum M0 value which is an iden-
tification of the Debye dispersion of these functions [60,61]. More
understanding about this behaviour was confirmed by the complex
plane plot (M00 versus M0 ) drawn for this nanofluid sample in
Fig. 7c. The appeared semicircle shape confirms the Debye type
dispersion behaviour of the electric modulus values and it applies
to all these GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids. With this fact, taking the
values of frequency fp corresponding to the M00 peaks, the conduc-
tivity relaxation time sr of these nanofluids were determined from
the relation sr = 1/2pfp [60]. The sr values of these nanofluids, at
25 °C, are listed in Table 3 which lies in the range of  35 ls to
102 ls. These sr values are considered in the next section 3.3.5.
to demonstrate their correlation with the rdc values of the GLY/x
(wt%) ZnO nanofluids.
3.3.4. Impedance spectra
In addition to the electrical conductivity spectra of the nanoflu-
ids, their impedance spectra are also characterized from the elec-
trical insulation point of view, and for the determination of both
the conductivity and EP relaxation times of the polar fluids
[50,63,64]. The dispersion of complex impedance (Z0 and Z00 ) with
the frequency of harmonic electric field for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids containing x values 0.01 wt% and 1.0 wt% are provided
in Fig. 8a as representative samples, which reveal that the impe-
dance functions of these materials also have Debye dispersion.
These Z00 (f) plots of both the representative nanofluid samples
exhibited relaxation peaks, and it is noted that the corresponding
peak frequencies perfectly match with the values obtained from
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
the peaks of M00 (f) plots. This finding confirms that the conductivity
relaxation mechanism can be correctly explained from the impe-
dance spectra of these nanofluids as reported earlier for a variety
of polar solvents and their mixtures [50,60,64]. In the Z00 (f) spec-
trum of 1.00 wt% ZnO containing nanofluid sample, a dip has also
appeared near the lower frequency end, which is highlighted in the
inset of Fig. 8a. The frequency value (marked as fEP) corresponding
to the minimum (i.e., dip) is found the same as that noted from its
tand (f) spectrum. This correlation demonstrates that the relax-
ation time of the charge conductivity and the EP process can be
Fig. 8. (a) Complex impedance (Z0 and Z00 ) spectra of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids
for x = 0.01 and 1.00, and the inset shows the enlarged view of Z00 spectrum for
1.00 wt% ZnO in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 500 Hz, and (b) Debye type
complex plane plots (Z00 versus Z0 ) for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (x = 0.00, 0.01,
0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), at 25 °C.
10
Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925
correctly analyzed from the Z00 (f) spectrum of a nanofluid provided
that the used experimental frequency range appropriately covers
both the relaxation processes.
The Z00 versus Z0 complex plane plots for all the samples of GLY/x
(wt%) ZnO nanofluids are drawn in Fig. 8b, which are appeared as
semicircles of different sizes revealing the Debye dispersion beha-
viour of the impedance spectra of these materials. The impedance
spectroscopic study on numerous high viscosity fluids also con-
firmed their Debye dispersion in this experimental frequency
regime [50,60,64]. The values of dc resistance Rdc for these nano-
fluid materials were taken from the intercept point on the real axis
(i.e., Z0 axis) as marked for 0.30 wt% ZnO containing nanofluid, as a
representative sample in Fig. 8b, and these Rdc values are listed in
Table 3. An anomalous variation in Rdc values of the nanofluids is
noted for lower ZnO concentrations (x  0.05 wt%), and a large
decrease for the higher ZnO concentrations (x
0.30 wt%). Further,
the high Rdc values suggest the appropriateness of these nanofluids
for electrical insulation purposes in addition to their other dielec-
tric applications in soft condensed matter technologies.
3.3.5. Comparison of es, rdc, sr, and nD values of the nanofluids
The dependency of es, rdc, sr, and nD values for the GLY/x (wt%)
ZnO nanofluids on the ZnO concentration are shown in Fig. 9. One
can read from Fig. 9a that the es values increased a little at 0.01 wt%
and 0.02 wt% concentrations of ZnO in these nanofluids as com-
pared to that of pure glycerol, but for the nanofluids of ZnO con-
centrations x
0.30 wt% exhibited a small decrease which infers
that the loading of ZnO nanoparticles influenced the parallel
aligned dipolar ordering of the glycerol molecules in their 3D
supramolecular structural network. At ambient temperature, the
dielectric constant of ZnO material under the influence of 1 MHz
harmonic electric field, is 10.3 [51], which is much lower than that
of the pure glycerol (es = 41.52). Besides this fact, a small increase
in es values of the nanofluids having 0.01 wt% and 0.02 wt% con-
centrations of ZnO was noted which evidence an increase in the
number of parallel aligned dipoles. Whereas, at higher ZnO concen-
trations, it seems that there is a little structural disordering pro-
duced in the dipolar arrangement of the glycerol supramolecular
structure. This finding also favours the XRD results on these
nanofluids demonstrated in the previous section.
It can be seen from Fig. 9 (b and c) that the rdc and sr values
have relatively an inverse variation with the increase of ZnO con-
centration in these GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids. This result
asserted that the electrical conductivity of these nanofluids is pri-
marily ruled by the conductivity relaxation time, which means the
relative increase in sr value reduced the rdc value of the nanofluid
and vice-versa. Furthermore, the changes in rdc values of these
nanofluids are relatively less for the ZnO concentration up to
0.05 wt%, but thereafter the increase in rdc values is significant
and progressive with the further increase of the ZnO concentration.
Comparatively different behaviour of the rdc and sr values for the
nanofluid samples having 0.30 wt% and 1.00 wt% of ZnO amounts
in comparison to that of the nanofluid up to 0.05 wt% also supports
the saturation in UV–Vis absorbance over the entire visible region.
Fig. 9d explains that initially at the lesser ZnO concentration, there
is a small decrease in refractive index nD of the nanofluids which
appreciably reduced at higher concentration of ZnO. All these
dielectric parameters (es, rdc, sr, and nD) of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids have distinct behaviour for the ZnO concentration
ranges from 0.01 wt% to 0.05 wt% in comparison to that from
0.30 wt% to 1.00 wt%, which found consistent with the results
obtained from the XRD and UV–Vis characterizations.
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925

in Table 4 and also plotted in Fig. 10a. This figure infers that the g
values of these nanofluids decreased largely with the increase of
ZnO concentration up to 0.05 wt%, and thereafter a relatively less
decrease is noted at higher concentrations. The lowering in g val-
ues suggest that the ZnO nanoparticles electrostatic interaction
with the glycerol molecules reduced the strength of H-bonded
molecular layers. The decrease in g values was also reported for
the nanofluids of H-bonded ethylene glycol molecules with the
increase of dispersed ZnO nanoparticles concentration [28,67]. This
outcome on the viscosities of the GLY/ZnO nanofluids specifies the
suitability of such decreased viscosity nanofluids in the fluid
pumping systems [26,28,39].

3.4.2. Density
Density q values of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids were deter-
mined at 25 °C and reported in Table 4. The study of q values of the
nanofluids has significance in the computation of some important
parameters like pressure loss, friction factor, Reynold number,
Nusselt number, Prandtl number, etc. which are related to the heat
transfer processes involved in the thermal systems [11,12,26,68].
The q values of these GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids are plotted as
a function of ZnO concentration in Fig. 10b. It has been noted from

Fig. 9. Plots of es, rdc, sr, and nD with x (wt%) amounts of ZnO for the GLY/x (wt%)
ZnO nanofluids, at 25 °C.

3.4. Thermophysical properties of nanofluids

3.4.1. Viscosity
Viscosity g of a nanofluid has an important role in energy trans-
portation, especially in flow systems defined previously [26,39,40].
Therefore, with the consideration of this fact, the viscosity values
of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids as a function of ZnO concentration Fig. 10. Plots of g and q with x (wt%) amounts of ZnO for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
were determined at a fixed temperature of 25 °C, and are reported nanofluids, at 25 °C.

Table 4
Values of viscosity g, density q, ultrasonic velocity u, adiabatic compressibility ba, acoustic impedance Za, thermal conductivity k, and viscoacoustic relaxation time sga for the
GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids (NFs; x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.30, and 1.00), at 25 °C.

NFs g q u ba  1010 Za  10–6 k (W/mK) sga  1012

x (wt%) (mPa.s) (kg/m3) (m/s) (m2 N1) (kg m2 s1) (s)
0.00 733 1259.7 1920.4 2.15 2.419 0.2847 210
0.01 726 1262.4 1905.0 2.18 2.405 0.2853 211
0.02 713 1261.8 1921.5 2.15 2.425 0.2851 204
0.05 702 1261.9 1925.7 2.14 2.430 0.2858 200
0.30 699 1261.6 1928.1 2.13 2.432 0.2868 199
1.00 692 1267.1 1924.7 2.13 2.439 0.2867 197

11
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
this figure that the q values of these nanofluids are slightly higher
than that of the pure glycerol density for the ZnO amount up to
0.30 wt%, which also varies a little and anomalously with the
increase of ZnO concentration, but at 1.00 wt% a significant
increase in q value is noted. The increase in the density of nanoflu-
ids is expected because the density of ZnO nanopowder is much
higher than that of pure glycerol. But the density of pure glycerol
is strongly related to its strength of H-bonded intermolecular asso-
Fig. 11. Variation of u, ba, Za, k, and sga with x (wt%) amounts of ZnO for the GLY/x
(wt%) ZnO nanofluids, at 25 °C.
12
Journal of Molecular Liquids 355 (2022) 118925
ciation. When the ZnO nanoparticles are added to the glycerol fluid
and their amount gradually increased the interaction of these par-
ticles with the glycerol molecules (as revealed from the XRD, UV–
Vis, and dielectric results) alter the H-bonded molecular structural
packing which probably varies unevenly with the variation of ZnO
concentration, and as a result of this fact, the observed density of
these GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids varies anomalously.
3.4.3. Ultrasonic velocity and acoustic parameters
Using the measured values of ultrasound wave velocity u, the
acoustic parameters i.e., adiabatic compressibility ba = 1/qu2,
acoustic impedance Za = qu, and viscoacoustic relaxation time
sga = (4/3)gba and also the thermal conductivity k = 2.8ud(NA/
V)2/3KB of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids were determined at
25 °C using the respective relations described in the previous liter-
ature [30,69–75]. The values of these thermophysical parameters
at different ZnO concentrations for the GLY/ZnO nanofluids are
provided in Table 4. In addition to the density and viscosity, these
acoustic parameters are also important to get insight into the phys-
ical behaviour of the nanofluids and to identify their suitability in
advances of soft condensed matter technologies, including the heat
transfer systems.
Fig. 11 shows the variation of all these different acoustic param-
eters as a function of ZnO amount for the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanoflu-
ids. It can be seen from this figure that u, ba, and Za values vary
irregularly with the increase of ZnO concentration in these
nanofluids. Further, it can be noted from Fig. 11 that the u and Za
values of these nanofluids are higher than that of the pure glycerol
whereas the ba and sga values are low, except for the nanofluid
sample of 0.01 wt% ZnO concentration. The k values of all the
GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids are found higher than pure glycerol
and also increased unevenly with the increase of ZnO concentra-
tion up to 0.30 wt%, and thereafter the variation is small at
1.00 wt%. The increased thermal conductivity of different nanoflu-
ids containing ZnO nanoparticles is reported in several studies and
reviews [25,28,29,67]. The appreciable k values of GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids confirm them as potential thermal materials to be used
in a variety of heat transfer systems. These results of thermophys-
ical parameters infer that the nanoparticle-molecular interactions
play an important role in the settlement of various acoustic param-
eters of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids.
4. Conclusions
This paper reports in detail the structural, optical, dielectric,
electrical, and thermophysical properties of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO
nanofluids having ZnO concentrations ranging from 0.01 to
1.00 wt%. The XRD results established that the H-bonded ordered
3D supramolecular structure network of glycerol molecules is
highly efficient to hold the suspended ZnO nanoparticles with high
suspension stability. Additionally, the XRD results evidenced that
due to homogeneity and monodispersity of the suspended ZnO
nanoparticles in the glycerol network emerged as a highly ordered
crystallographic arrangement with excellent continuity when the
ZnO concentration exceeded 0.05 wt%. The characteristics of UV–
Vis absorbance also supported the results of nanoparticles homo-
geneity in these GLY/ZnO nanofluids. For the ZnO
concentration
0.05 wt%, at which the visible range absorption
became saturated, the ZnO nanoparticles showed their characteris-
tic diffraction peaks in these nanofluids. Furthermore, the tunable
absorbance at different wavelengths of the UV–Vis radiations, and
also the regulating behaviour of the energy band gaps with the
variation of ZnO amount confirmed the appropriateness of these
GLY/ZnO nanofluids as a liquid optical filter, photosensor, photo-
R.J. Sengwa, M. Saraswat and P. Dhatarwal
voltaic material for solar energy converter, and the UV–Vis blocker
and shielder.
The dependency of dielectric and electrical properties on the
ZnO concentration of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids was thor-
oughly characterized. It was explored that a significant increase
in electrical conductivity occurred when the amount of suspended
ZnO nanoparticles is
0.30 wt% in the glycerol fluid, and it is pre-
dominantly governed by the conductivity relaxation time over the
entire ZnO concentration range. The electrical behaviour of these
nanofluid materials was also examined from their complex impe-
dance spectra which obeyed the Debye dispersion. With the help
of dielectric and electrical parameters, the significance of these
materials to be used as liquid nanodielectric insulators and electri-
cal energy storage was confirmed. The viscosity of these materials
reduced largely with the increase of ZnO amount up to 0.05 wt%
but exhibited a relatively less decrease at higher concentrations.
The values of density, ultrasound wave velocity, adiabatic com-
pressibility, acoustic impedance, and viscoacoustic relaxation time
of the GLY/x (wt%) ZnO nanofluids are reported. The changes in
these thermophysical parameters with the variation in ZnO con-
centration were found to be influenced by the molecule-
nanoparticle electrostatic interaction. An increase in thermal con-
ductivity and appreciably decreased viscosity with the increase
of ZnO concentration also realized the suitability of these GLY/
ZnO nanofluids in a variety of heat transfer systems.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
R.J. Sengwa: Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology,
Data curation, Project administration, Resources, Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing. Mukul Saraswat: Conceptualiza-
tion, Methodology, Data curation, Writing – original draft.
Priyanka Dhatarwal: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data cura-
tion, Writing – original draft.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The University Grants Commission, New Delhi, is gratefully
acknowledged for the experimental facilities through SAP DRS-II
Project Grant (No. F.530/12/DRS-II/2016(SAP-I)).
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