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Author(s): , , , , , ,

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Abstract: As green energy becomes increasingly important, more companies are exploring the possibility of using molten salts as heat transfer fluids for concentrated solar power. One of the downfalls of molten salts is their low thermal conductivity, which can be altered with the addition of thermally conductive nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity analyzer was used in this experiment to measure the thermal conductivity of molten salts after the addition of MoS2 (molybdenum sulphide) and CuO (copper oxide) nanoparticles. When the optimal amount of MoS2 was added to the molten salts, the maximum thermal conductivity value was obtained at each temperature point, and the thermal conductivities for the CuO nano-molten salts were higher than the parent salt at each time increment. These results indicate that the addition of nanoparticles to molten salts increases their performance and should be used in conjunction should molten salts become an integral part of green energy initiatives in the future.

Reference: Applied Thermal Engineering, 109 (2016) 901-905

DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.04.102