EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HYBRID NANOFLUID WITH CORROBORATIVE CHARACTERISTICS FOR SOLAR COLLECTOR APPLICATIONS

Adding metallic particles into thermal fluid systems has been widely considered as a
promising approach to enhance heat transfer. However, the applications of the particlefluid
mixtures are restricted due to the poor stability of those suspensions containing
micro-sized particles. This study investigates the effect of using newly developed hybrid
nanofluids as working fluid in flat plate solar collector (FPSC) to replace the conventional
water-based fluid. The nanofluids assessed in this study are a combination of covalently
functionalized-multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CF-MWCNTs) and covalently
functionalized-graphene nanoplatelets (CF-GNPs) with hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) in
distilled water (DW) as base fluid. These nano additives are believed to enhance the
conductivity of the fluid heat transfer and boost its thermal efficiency.