Abstract
Solar heating with nanoparticles (NPs) exhibits great potential for photo thermal applications, such as direct absorption solar collector and photovoltaic photothermal system. The performance of NPs suspended in base fluid plays a major role in improving solar harvesting efficiency. Most researchers are focused on the optical properties of mental NPs due to their strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), resulting in a great solar absorption. To our best knowledge, theoretically and systematically studying on optical properties of non-metal NPs is still open. Therefore, we present a thorough investigation on the correlation between solar absorption and the size of CuO, carbon and graphite with the diameter range of 20–200 nm though using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Results show that absorption and scattering cross sections of NPs have great sensitivity to particle size. The absorbed power increases with particle size growing. And solar absorption power for per unit volume of the three NPs has optimal diameter about 60 nm, 100 nm, 160 nm for carbon, graphite, and CuO, respectively. Graphite exhibits best average solar absorption efficiency, following by carbon and CuO except for particles smaller than about 30 nm. For particle diameter of 30 nm, carbon has better sunlight absorption property than that of graphite. This work aimed to provide guidelines for choosing non-metal particles and their optimal size for solar thermal utilization.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- NPs:
-
Nanoparticles
- LSPR:
-
Localized surface plasmon resonance
- FDTD:
-
Finite-difference time-domain
- FEM:
-
Finite element method
- DDA:
-
Discrete dipole approximation
- DASC:
-
Direct absorption solar collectors
- NS:
-
Nanostructure
- PML:
-
Perfectly matched layer
- TFSF:
-
Total-field scattered-field
- DFT:
-
Frequency-domain field profile
- AM1.5:
-
Solar irradiance for air mass 1.5
- UV:
-
Ultraviolet ray, < 390 nm
- VIS:
-
Visible, 390–700 nm
- NIR:
-
Near infrared, 700–2500 nm
- E :
-
Electric field (kg m s−3A−1)
- H :
-
Magnetic field (A m−1)
- ε r :
-
Relative permittivity (m−3 kg−1 s4 A2)
- μ r :
-
Relative permeability (kg m s−2 A−2)
- P abs,P sca :
-
Absorption, scattering power (W)
- I AM1.5 :
-
Standard intensity (W m−2 nm−1)
- σ abs,σ sca :
-
Absorption, scattering section (nm2)
- α :
-
Solar absorption ratio
- \( {\overline{Q}}_{abs} \) :
-
Average absorption efficiency
References
Al-Qazwini Y, Noor ASM, Yadav TK, Yaacob MH, Harun SW, Mahdi MA (2014) Performance evaluation of a bilayer SPR-based fiber optic RI sensor with TiO2 using FDTD solutions. Photonic Sens 4(4):289–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13320-014-0207-y
Chen M, He Y, Wang X, Hu Y (2018) Numerically investigating the optical properties of plasmonic metallic nanoparticles for effective solar absorption and heating. Sol Energy 161:17–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2017.12.032
Chen M, He Y, Ye Q, Wang X, Hu Y (2019) Shape-dependent solar thermal conversion properties of plasmonic Au nanoparticles under different light filter conditions. Sol Energy 182:340–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.02.070
Chen M, He Y, Zhu J, Kim DR (2016) Enhancement of photo-thermal conversion using gold nanofluids with different particle sizes. Energy Conv Manag 112:21–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2016.01.009
Djurišić AB, Li EH (1999) Optical properties of graphite. J Appl Phys 85:7404–7410
Dobrovolskaia MA, Germolec DR, Weaver JL (2009) Evaluation of nanoparticle immunotoxicity. Nat Nanotechnol 4(7):411. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.175
Draine BT (1988) The discrete-dipole approximation and its application to interstellar graphite grains. Astrophys J 333:848–872
Draine BT, Flatau PJ (1944) Discrete-dipole approximation for scattering calculations. JOSA A 11(4):1491–1499. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.11.001491
Du M, Tang GH (2015) Optical property of nanofluids with particle agglomeration. Sol Energy 122:864–872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.10.009
Fredriksson H, Pakizeh T, Käll M, Kasemo B, Chakarov D (2009) Resonant optical absorption in graphite nanostructures. J Optics-UK 11(11):114022. https://doi.org/10.1088/1464-4258/11/11/114022
Gorji TB, Ranjbar AA (2017) A review on optical properties and application of nanofluids in direct absorption solar collectors (DASCs). Renew Sust Energ Rev 72:10–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.015
Haes AJ, Duyne RPV (2002) A nanoscale optical biosensor: sensitivity and selectivity of an approach based on the localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy of triangular silver nanoparticles. J Am Chem Soc 124(35):0596–10604. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja020393x
Holm VR, Greve MM, Holst B (2017) A theoretical investigation of the optical properties of metal nanoparticles in water for photo thermal conversion enhancement. Energy Conv Manag 149:536–542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.07.027
Ishii S, Sugavaneshwar RP, Nagao T (2016) Titanium nitride nanoparticles as plasmonic solar heat transducers. J Phys Chem C 120(4):2343–2348. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b09604
Kim J, Lee GJ, Park I, Lee YP (2012) Finite-difference time-domain numerical simulation study on the optical properties of silver nanocomposites. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 12(7):5527–5531. https://doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2012.6330
Liu J, Ye Z, Zhang L, Fang X, Zhang Z (2015) A combined numerical and experimental study on graphene/ionic liquid nanofluid based direct absorption solar collector. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 136:177–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.01.013
Liu X, Xuan Y (2017) Full-spectrum volumetric solar thermal conversion via photonic nanofluids. Nanoscale. 9(39):14854–14860. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7NR03912C
Meinel AB, Meinel MP (1977) Applied solar energy: an introduction. NASA STI/Recon Technical Report, 77
Mie G (1908) Articles on the optical characteristics of turbid tubes, especially colloidal metal solutions. Ann Phys 25:377–445
Moharam MG, Gaylord TK (1981) Rigorous coupled-wave analysis of planar-grating diffraction. Josa. 71(7):811–818. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSA.71.000811
N, k database. http://www.ioffe.ru/SVA/NSM/nk/Oxides/Gif/cuo.gif
Nakayama K, Tanabe K, Atwater HA (2008) Plasmonic nanoparticle enhanced light absorption in GaAs solar cells. Appl Phys Lett 93(12):121904. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2988288
Paris A, Vaccari A, Lesina AC, Serra E, Calliari L (2012) Plasmonic scattering by metal nanoparticles for solar cells. Plasmonics. 7(3):525–534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9338-4
Pustovalov VK (2016) Light-to-heat conversion and heating of single nanoparticles, their assemblies, and the surrounding medium under laser pulses. RSC Adv 6(84):81266–81289. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA11130K
Querry MR (1985) Optical constants, contractor report. US Army Chemical Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, 418
Rahman MM, Younes H, Ni G et al (2017) Plasmonic nanofluids enhanced solar thermal transfer liquid. In AIP Conference Proceedings AIP Publishing 1850(1):110013. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984487
Saidur R, Meng T, Said Z, Hasanuzzaman M, Kamyar A (2012) Evaluation of the effect of nanofluid based absorbers on direct solar collector. Int J Heat Mass Transf 55(21–22): 5899–5907. https:// https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2012.05.087
Singh GK (2013) Solar power generation by PV (photovoltaic) technology: a review. Energy. 53:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.02.057
Sun Y, Evans J, Ding F, Liu N, Liu W, Zhang Y, He S (2015) Bendable, ultra-black absorber based on a graphite nanocone nanowire composite structure. Opt Express 23(15):20115–20123. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.23.020115
Taflove A, Hagness SC (2005) Computational electrodynamics: the finite-difference time-domain method. Artech house, Norwood
Vuu K, Xie J, McDonald MA et al (2005) Gadolinium-rhodamine nanoparticles for cell labeling and tracking via magnetic resonance and optical imaging. Bioconjug Chem 16(4):995–999. https://doi.org/10.1021/bc050085z
Wang X, Wang Y, Yang X, Cao Y (2019) Numerical simulation on the LSPR-effective core-shell copper/graphene nanofluids. Sol Energy 181:439–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.02.018
Wang Z, Quan X, Zhang Z, Cheng P (2018) Optical absorption of carbon-gold core-shell nanoparticles. J Quant Spectrosc Ra Transfer 205:291–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2017.08.001
Yao GY, Liu QL, Zhao ZY (2018) Studied localized surface plasmon resonance effects of au nanoparticles on TiO2 by FDTD simulations. Catalysts. 8(6):236. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8060236
Yee K (1966) Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving Maxwell's equations in isotropic media. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 14(3):302–307. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.1966.1138693
Zakharko Y, Nychyporuk T, Bonacina L, Lemiti M, Lysenko V (2013) Plasmon-enhanced nonlinear optical properties of SiC nanoparticles. Nanotechnology. 24(5):055703. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/24/5/055703
Zeng J, Xuan Y (2018) Tunable full-spectrum photo-thermal conversion features of magnetic- plasmonic Fe3O4/TiN nanofluid. Nano Energy 51:754–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.07.034
Zienkiewicz OC, Taylor RL, Nithiarasu P, Zhu JZ (1977) The finite element method. McGraw-hill, London
Zivanovic SS, Yee KS, Mei KK (1991) A subgridding method for the time-domain finite-difference method to solve Maxwell's equations. IEEE Trans Micro Theor Tech 39:471–479. https://doi.org/10.1109/22.75289
Funding
This research was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [Grant No. 51406098] and the State’s Key Project of Research and Development Plan of China [Grant No. 2016YFB0302000].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, Y., Sun, G., Wu, D. et al. Investigation on the correlation between solar absorption and the size of non-metallic nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 21, 161 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4576-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4576-4