Effect of nano materials for the nano fluids in solar thermal energy: A review on applications in solar collector

Abstract

Sun is the prime source of energy in the universe. Solar energy is available freely and has no adverse effect on the environment like greenhouse gases, CO2 emission etc. Hence, solar energy has the significant role amongst all renewable energy sources. The conversion of solar energy into the thermal energy can be done through the flat plate solar collector. The conventional working fluids used in the solar collector has poor thermo-physical properties which lowers the efficiency of solar collector. This review throws light on the latest developments on the performance improvement of solar flat plate collector. The earlier research performed on the use of nanofluids for the performance improvement of solar flat plate collector is comprehensively presented. An extensive research indicates that improving the thermo-physical properties of conventional heat transfer fluid leads to the performance improvement of flat plate solar collector. This can be achieved by the use of nanofluid instead of conventional fluid in solar collector.