Experimental investigation of jet array nanofluids impingement in photovoltaic/thermal collector

•A PVT collector with jet impingement of different nanofluids was tested.•The use of nanofluids resulted in higher electrical and thermal efficiencies.•PVT with SiC nanofluid has highest electrical and thermal efficiencies.•The PVT with SiC/Water nanofluid has the highest Pmax.•The PVT with SiC /Water nanofuid has better performance than TiO2 and SiO2 nanofluids. The effect of nanoparticles (SiC, TiO2 and SiO2) with water as its base fluid on the electrical and thermal performance of a photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector equipped with jet impingement have been investigated. A PVT collector was tested indoor at set levels of solar irradiances and mass flow rates. The system consists of four parallel tubes and 36 nozzles that directly injects the fluid to the back of the PVT collector. The electrical performance of the PVT collector was determined based on the mean temperature of the PVT absorber plate. The SiC/water nanofluid system reported the highest electrical and thermal efficiency. The electrical, thermal, and combined photovoltaic thermal efficiencies were 12.75%, 85%, and 97.75%, respectively, at a solar irradiance of 1000W/m2 and flow rate of 0.167kg/s and ambient temperature of about 30°C. Moreover, the Pmax of PVT with SiC nanofluid increased by 62.5% compared to the conventional PV module.