Effects Of Nanoparticles On Enhancing The Thermodynamics Characteristic Of Molten Salt For Solar Thermal Power System

Solar thermal power generation technology is the most feasible technology to compete with fossil fuels in the economy, and is considered to be one of the most promising candidates for providing a major share of the clean and renewable energy needed in the future. The appropriate heat transfer fluid and storage medium is a key technological issue for the future success of solar thermal technologies.Molten salt is one of the best heat transfer and thermal storage fluid for both parabolic trough and tower solar thermal power system. It is very important that molten salt heat transfer mechanisms are understood and can be predicted with accuracy. But studies on molten salts heat transfer are rare.This study will lay a foundation for the application of carbon nanotubes in molten salt which can remarkably improve the stability and capacity of thermal storage. Preliminary experiments found that adding nanoparticles provided an anomalous enhancement to the specific heat capacity of molten salt. According to the experiments, multi-walled carbon nanotubes and Au nanoparticles both can enhance the specific heat capacity of molten salt.In this paper, the interface thermal resistance theory is used to explain the phenomenon of the significantly improved heat capacity, then investigate the factors which affect the mechanism of specific heat capacity enhancement, such as the concentration, the size, the attributes, the stability of the nanoparticles, and dispersion behavior of the nanoparticles in the eutectic composition. The microstructure was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM).