Enhanced specific heat and thermal conductivity of ternary carbonate nanofluids with carbon nanotubes for solar power applications

Summary Specific heat and thermal conductivity are important thermal properties of high‐temperature heat transfer fluids and thermal storage materials for supercritical solar power plants. In the present work, nanofluids composed of ternary carbonate Li2CO3‐K2CO3‐Na2CO3 (4:4:2, mass ratio) and 1.0 wt.% carbon nanotubes (CNT) were prepared to obtain high‐temperature heat transfer and storage media with enhanced specific heat and thermal conductivity. The dispersion of CNTs in the nanofluids was tuned by changing the evaporation temperature (100, 140, 180 and 220 °C) and adding surfactants such as sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), or gum Arabic (GA). The results showed that GA and SDS facilitate good dispersion of CNT in nanofluids at the evaporation temperatures of 140 °C and 180 °C, resulting in the formation of more needle‐like nanostructures. The higher increase in the specific heat and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids with SDS at 500 °C was 78.3% and 149.2%, respectively. Additionally, the specific heat of as‐prepared ternary carbonate nanofluids exhibits a good thermal stability after 30 cycles of thermal shock experiments.