1. Crumpled particles of ethanol-wetted graphene oxide for medium-temperature nanofluidic solar-thermal energy harvesting.
- Author
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Zhang, Jingyi, Shu, Lei, Chang, Chao, Li, Xiaoxiang, Lin, Ruiming, Fu, Benwei, Song, Chengyi, Shang, Wen, Tao, Peng, and Deng, Tao
- Subjects
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ENERGY harvesting , *THERMOPHYSICAL properties , *NANOFLUIDS , *HEAT storage , *HIGH temperatures , *HEAT capacity , *ETHANOL , *GRAPHENE oxide - Abstract
Direct absorption of sunlight with carbon nanofluids is a facile way to efficiently harvest solar-thermal energy, but poor dispersion stability of nanofluids under elevated temperatures severely limits their applications. Herein, we report a general strategy to prepare stably-dispersed medium-temperature solar-thermal nanofluids by employing crumpled particles of ethanol-wetted graphene oxide sheets as the self-dispersible photothermal converters. The crumpled particles simultaneously possess intensively-deformed surface structure, a low density and a small particle size. Such features weaken the inter-particle van der Waals attraction and gravitational sedimentation of the crumpled particles, thereby enabling their long-term stable dispersion within commercial thermal storage oils. Uniform dispersion of nanofluids was maintained after continuous heating for 2 weeks under a heating temperature up to 200 °C. The homogenously dispersed nanofluids also achieved high solar absorptance with low particle loadings, and retained the large heat capacity and suitable viscosity. These combined advantageous thermophysical properties enabled consistent high-performance medium-temperature direct absorption-based nanofluidic solar-thermal energy harvesting under large-flux solar illumination. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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