In this work, the silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by electrical explosion of wire in three liquid mediums: deionized water (DIW), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) solutions. Absorption in the UV-visible region of these suspensions was measured in the range of 300-800 nm. A surface plasmon peak was observed at ~400 nm in all suspensions in measured wavelength range. Particle size was analyzed by transmission electron microscope. It showed that the particles had nearly spherical shape in all samples. The average particle sizes prepared in DIW, PVP and SDBS solution were 37, 31 and 27 nm, respectively. Stability of the suspensions was estimated by multiple light scattering method. The presence of PVP and SDBS surfactants in the exploding medium resulted in enhanced stability of the silver suspensions.

The Cu nanofluid in ethylene glycol was prepared by electrical explosion of wire, a novel one-step method. The X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope were used to study the properties of Cu nanoparticles. The results showed that the nanoparticles were consisted of pure face-centered cubic structure and near spherical shape with average grain size of 65 nm. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) confirmed Cu nanoparticles with a single absorbance peak of Cu surface plasmon resonance band at 600 nm. The nanofluid was found to be stable due to high positive zeta potential value, +51 mV. The backscattering level of nanofluid in static stationary was decreased about 2% for 5 days. The thermal conductivity measurement showed that Cu-ethylene glycol nanofluid with low concentration of nanoparticles had higher thermal conductivity than based fluid. The enhancement of thermal conductivity of nanofluid at a volume fraction of 0.1% was approximately 5.2%.