Modeling and analysis of optical properties of nanoparticles and nanofluids for effective absorption of solar radiation and their heating

Abstract

This review presents a comprehensive analysis of the recent studies and advances related to optical properties of nanoparticles, their heating under solar irradiation and heat conversion, relevant equations and theoretical modeling approaches and application of nanofluids for direct absorption of solar radiation. A lot of papers including theoretical, numerical and experimental up-to-date works are reviewed and summarized carefully to give a panoramic overview of the role of the nanoparticles. Modern nanotechnology can produce various homogeneous and hybrid (core–shell) nanoparticles from different metals and materials which have unique optical and thermal properties. It was found that the application of nanoparticles selected on the basis of the presented analysis has shown remarkable properties and offers unique advantages over conventional fluids in optical absorption, thermo-physical and heating properties of nanofluids. This fact can play a crucial role in increasing the efficiency of solar energy harvesting.