PurposeThis paper aims to study the heat transfer of nanofluid flow driven by the move of channel walls in a microchannel under the effects of the electrical double layer and slippery properties of channel walls. The distributions of velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volumetric concentration are analyzed under different slip-length. Also, the variation rates of flow velocity, temperature, concentration of nanoparticle, the pressure constant, the local volumetric entropy generation rate and the total cross-sectional entropy generation are analyzed.Design/methodology/approachA recently developed model is chosen which is robust and reasonable from the point of view of physics, as it does not impose nonphysical boundary conditions, for instance, the zero electrical potential in the middle plane of the channel or the artificial pressure constant. The governing equations of flow motion, energy, electrical double layer and stream potential are derived with slip boundary condition presented. The model is non-dimensionalized and solved by using the homotopy analysis method.FindingsSlip-length has significant influences on the velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volumetric concentration of the nanofluid. It also has strong effects on the pressure constant. With the increase of the slip-length, the pressure constant of the nanofluid in the horizontal microchannel decreases. Both the local volumetric entropy generation rate and total cross-sectional entropy generation rate are significantly affected by both the slip-length of the lower wall and the thermal diffusion. The local volumetric entropy generation rate at the upper wall is always higher than that around the lower wall. Also, the larger the slip-length is, the lower the total cross-sectional entropy generation rate is when the thermal diffusion is moderate.Originality/valueThe findings in this work on the heat transfer and flow phenomena of the nanofluid in microchannel are expected to make a contribution to guide the design of micro-electro-mechanical systems.

In this paper, a fully-developed, immiscible nanofluid flow in a paralleled microchannel in the presence of a magnetic field is investigated. Buongiorno’s model is applied to describe the behaviors of the nanofluid flow. Different from most previous studies on microchannel flow, here the pressure term is considered as unknown, which makes the current model compatible with the commonly accepted channel flow models. The influences of various physical parameters on important physical quantities are given. The entropy generation analysis is performed. Variations of local and global entropy generations with the magnetic field parameter, the electric field, and the viscous dissipation parameter under various ratios of the thermophoresis parameter to the Brownian motion parameter are illustrated. The results indicate that the entropy generation rate strongly depends on the thermophoresis and the Brownian motion parameters. Their increase enhances the total irreversibility of entropy generation.