Thermal and Optical Properties of Paraffin-mixed CNTs Nanofluids

In this paper, thermal and optical properties such as heat capacity, thermal conductivity and the extinction coefficient of paraffin-mixed CNTs nanofluids, which can dramatically absorb and store the solar thermal energy, are... [ view full abstract ]

In this paper, thermal and optical properties such as heat capacity, thermal conductivity and the extinction coefficient of paraffin-mixed CNTs nanofluids, which can dramatically absorb and store the solar thermal energy, are experimentally observed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), transient hot wire apparatus and Lambert–Beer law at a fixed wavelength (632.8 nm). Paraffin-mixed CNTs nanofluids are in-house manufactured by two-step method with DI-Water. The specific heat of paraffin-mixed CNTs is enhanced up to 30% compared with DI-water at the temperature range from 50℃ to 60℃. Also, extinction coefficients of paraffin-mixed CNTs nanofluids are linearly increased with the volume fraction of paraffin-mixed CNTs. Based on the results, we will show the paraffin-mixed CNTs nanofluids have dual functionality of absorption and storage for solar thermal energy.