Experimental study of the role of nanoparticles in sodium–water reaction

This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of Titanium (Ti) nanoparticles (NPs) on the mechanism of Sodium–Water chemical Reaction (SWR). Sodium–Titanium Nano Fluid (NaTiNF), i.e., liquid sodium that includes dispersed Ti NPs (≤100 nm) at 0.214 vol.% was produced. To simulate an accident in a sodium–water heat exchanger in a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor, SWR was conducted by injecting liquid water directly onto the surface of liquid sodium. The reaction behavior of NaTiNF was quantitatively compared with that of bare sodium. Experiment results present that NaTiNF shows mitigated reactivity with water and lower reaction rate than bare sodium. These results imply that NPs dispersed in liquid sodium affect the mechanism of SWR.