Viscosity of aqueous suspensions of titanium dioxide (anatase) nano-particles

The viscosity of aqueous suspensions of 25 nm titanium dioxide nano-particles was studied as a function of shear rate, temperature, and particle concentration. It is suggested that the complex behaviour of the material could be explained by the interplay of three factors, each having activation energy and activation entropy components. These are the intrinsic viscosity which was shown to obey a semi-empirical form of DLVO equation plus two shear rate-dependent mechanisms, one (thinning) changing the structure from an ordered to a disordered state, the other (thickening) an activation action term due to energy dissipated in particle collisions.

Automated summary

This study investigates the viscosity of aqueous suspensions of 25 nm titanium dioxide nano-particles, and finds that the complex behavior of the material can be explained by the interplay of three factors: intrinsic viscosity, shear rate-induced thinning mechanism, and shear rate-induced thickening mechanism.