Potential of carbon nanohorn-based suspensions for solar thermal collectors

The optical characterization is reported of a new fluid consisting of single-wall carbon nanohorns and ethylene glycol for solar energy applications. Carbon nanohorns play a significant role in enhancing sunlight absorption with respect to the pure base fluid. The obtained results are compared with those obtained for fluids suspending more conventional carbon forms, i.e. carbon-black particles. We found that nanohorn spectral features are far more favorable than those of amorphous carbon for the specific application. This result shows that carbon nanohorn-based nanofluids can be useful for increasing the efficiency and compactness of thermal solar devices, reducing both environmental impact and costs.

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► Single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWCNH) in glycol are optically characterized.
► SWCNH considerably enhance sunlight absorption properties of the base fluid.
► SWCNH-nanofluids are compared with more conventional carbon forms.
► SWCNH appear more promising for solar energy than amorphous carbon.