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Characterization of Al2O3, TiO2, hybrid Al2O3-TiO2 and graphene oxide nanofluids and their performance evaluations in photovoltaic thermal system

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Abstract

Advanced nanofluid with high stability is essential to meet the demands of the current industry and solar thermal systems. In industrial application, graphene oxide (GO) nanofluid formulated with ethylene glycol (EG)/water (W) is usually well-known for good stability along with high thermal conductivity. In this research, GO nanofluid is characterized for exploring its thermal, optical and suspension stability under certain conditions and then utilized as working fluid in photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system for measuring its performance compared to those of water and Al2O3, TiO2 and hybrid Al2O3-TiO2-based nanofluids. The thermal conductivity, thermal stability, morphology and optical absorbance are characterized by using thermal analyzer, TGA, SEM and UV–vis analysis, respectively. The results revealed that the thermal conductivity of GO/EG:W nanofluid was increased by 9.5% at 40 °C compared to water. It also showed good stability with a zeta potential of 30.3 mV. The numerical implantation of GO/EG:W nanofluid performed by COMSOL Multiphysics software presented significant improvement compared to Al2O3/EG:W, TiO2/EG:W and TiO2-Al2O3/EG:W nanofluids with a concentration of 0.01 mass% to 0.1 mass%. The measured electrical and thermal efficiencies of the PV/T system were 13.5% and 76%, respectively, using GO/EG:W with 0.07 kg s−1 mass flow rate and 0.01 mass% concentration. The stated findings identified GO/EG:W nanofluid as more effective in enhancing PV/T system’s performance than other tested working fluids.

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Abbreviations

EG:

Ethylene glycol

PV:

Photovoltaic

EDX:

Energy-dispersive x-ray

PV/T:

Photovoltaic thermal

FEA:

Finite element analysis

SWCNT:

Single-walled carbon nanotube

FESEM:

Field emission scanning electron microscopy

TEM:

Transmission electron spectroscopy

FF:

Fill factor

TGA:

Thermogravimetric analysis

GO:

Graphene oxide

UV–vis:

Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy

GO/EG:W:

Graphene oxide/Ethylene Glycol: Water

UDF:

User-defined functions

I sc :

Short-circuit current

V oc :

Open-circuit voltage

MWCNT:

Multi-walled carbon nanotube

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), University of Jeddah, Jeddah (Grant No. UJ-02-004-ICGR). The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical and financial support of DSR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Saeed Rubaiee, M. A. Fazal & Mohd Danish

  2. Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Saeed Rubaiee

  3. Sustainable Energy and Acoustics Research Lab, Mechanical Engineering Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Syed Mohd Yahya

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Rubaiee, S., Yahya, S.M., Fazal, M.A. et al. Characterization of Al2O3, TiO2, hybrid Al2O3-TiO2 and graphene oxide nanofluids and their performance evaluations in photovoltaic thermal system. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 11467–11477 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12492-8

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