Combustion and secondary atomization behavior of nanofuel droplets laden with hematite, magnetite and lanthanum orthoferrites nanoparticles

Current research concerns the droplet combustion behavior of gasoline‐based nanofuel droplets containing hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) and lanthanum orthoferrites (LaFeO 3 , La 0.5 Fe 1.5 O 3 and La 0.75 Fe 1.25 O 3 ) perovskite type nanoparticles (NPs) at 2.5 % wt. particle loadings. The results showed that the size distribution of hematite and magnetite NPs is on the 90–100 nm scale, while the lanthanum orthoferrites NPs have a particle size distribution of 25–40 nm. The particles with the largest surface area (78,5098 m 2 /g) and enhanced oxygen adsorbing ability were La 0.5 Fe 1.5 O 3 NPs. Droplet combustion experiments were recorded with a high speed camera and a 7.5–14 μm spectral area thermal camera. Fe 3 O 4 and LaFeO 3 NPs high agglomerate tendency allowed only a single microexplosion event in nanofuel droplets towards the end of the experiment. Only the G/La 0.5 Fe 1.5 O 3 fuel droplets trended to obey the D 2 ‐law. Nanofuel droplets containing La 0.5 Fe 1.5 O 3 NPs exhibited the highest maximum flame temperature of 264 °C. The catalytic activity of lanthanum orthoferrite perovskite‐type NPs during combustion was improved due to the decrease in the La ratio in the A‐site and the increase in the Fe ratio in the B‐site.