Researchers from CNR-INO, University of Cadiz, University of Rennes 1 and University of Reading demonstrated that nanofluids consisting of Pd nanoparticles dispersed in aromatic oil are very promising as volumetric solar absorbers and heat transfer fluids in next-generation parabolic-trough CSP plants.

An extremely low concentration of Pd nanoplates (0.030 wt%) increases sunlight extinction by 90% after 20 mm propagation length and thermal conductivity by 23.5% at 373 K, arising in the increase of the overall system efficiency up to 45.3% and reducing pumping requirements by 20%.
In addition, atomistic-level insights about the heat and momentum transfer in these nanofluids, gained by molecular dynamics simulations, disclose the role played by the solid−liquid interface.

The paper has been published on ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering and has been chosen for the supplementary cover.

Reference:
Optical and Transport Properties of Metal−Oil Nanofluids for Thermal Solar Industry: Experimental Characterization, Performance Assessment, and Molecular Dynamics Insights
I. Carrillo-Berdugo, P. Estellé, E. Sani, L. Mercatelli, R. Grau-Crespo, D. Zorrilla, J. Navas
ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2021, 9, 4194−4205
https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c00053