Effects of MgO Nanoparticles on Thermo-Physical Properties of LiNO 3 -NaNO 3 -KNO 3 for Thermal Energy Storage

Jianfeng Lu, Zhan Zhang, Weilong Wang and Jing Ding
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Jianfeng Lu: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Zhan Zhang: School of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Weilong Wang: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Jing Ding: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Molten salt LiNO 3 -NaNO 3 -KNO 3 has been investigated as heat transfer and thermal storage media for its low melting point and good thermal performance. In this paper, nanofluids were synthesized by dispersing MgO nanoparticles into LiNO 3 -NaNO 3 -KNO 3 , and the effects of nanoparticles on thermal properties were studied with different sizes (20–100 nm) and mass percent concentrations (0.5–2.0 wt.%). The addition of nanoparticles had little effect on melting temperature, and led to a slight increase in enthalpy of fusion by 2.0–5.5%. Compared with base salt, the density of nanofluid increased a little by 0.22–1.15%. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) test implied that nubby and punctate microstructures were responsible for larger surface area and interfacial energy, which could lead to the improvement of specific heat capacity reaching 2.6–10.6%. The heat transfer characteristics remarkably increased with the addition of nanoparticles, and the enhancement of average thermal diffusivity and conductivity of salt with 1 wt.% nano-MgO could be 5.3–11.7% and 11.3–21.2%, respectively. Besides, the viscosities of nanofluids slightly increased for 3.3–8.1%. As a conclusion, nano-MgO was positively influential on the thermal properties of LiNO 3 -NaNO 3 -KNO 3 base salt.

Keywords: thermal energy storage; ternary nitrate salt; nanofluid; thermal properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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