Platinum plate method based on Wilhel my plate was used to measure the surface tension of hydrophilic nano-titanium dioxide-deionized water (nano-TiO2-DIW) fluids and hydrophilic lipophilic nano-TiO2-DIW fluids. Experimental results show that the surface adsorption of hydrophilic lipophilic nano-TiO2 is positive adsorption, and hydrophilic nano-TiO2 is negative adsorption. The hydrophilic nano-TiO2 in deionized water increases the surface tension of base fluid, and hydrophilic lipophilic nano-TiO2 in deionized water decreases. The surface tension of hydrophilic TiO2-DIW nanofluids increases, and hydrophilic lipophilic TiO2-DIW nanofluids decreases linearly with an increase in the natural logarithm of the molar concentration of nanofluids. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.