Simulation of the electrical conduction of cyclohexane with TiO2 nanoparticles

Nanoparticles mixed with transformer oil can potentially increase the breakdown strength of the base liquid. Unfortunately, the basic physical mechanisms leading to such improvement are still not clear. This paper implements two existing theories to model the electrical conduction of cyclohexane with TiO2 nanoparticles in a needle to plane configuration. The generation and drift of carriers in the liquid are simulated by coupling the continuity equations for electrons, positive ions, negative ions, and nanoparticles with Poisson's equation for the electric field. The current-voltage characteristics are simulated and compared with the case of pure cyclohexane. The nanoparticles are modeled as either absorbers of electrons or as source of shallow traps in the fluid, according to the existing theories. The simulations show that the considered theories predict no significant effect of nanoparticles added to cyclohexane on the conduction current from a negative point electrode in steady state or under transient conditions.