Advances on Nanofluids for Next-Generation Solar Thermal Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Technologies for solar‐to‐thermal energy conversion have enabled a new avenue for a societal shift towards a more sustainable energy consumption. For instance, concentrating solar power with thermal energy storage has the technical capability for dispatchable electricity production. This can compensate the intermittencies of photovoltaics or wind power, thus bestowing power systems with flexibility, which is a very desirable characteristic in the context of an energy crisis. This resilient renewable technology and others can benefit from the use of nanofluids as heat transfer and storage fluids or volumetric absorbers to improve their cost efficiency. It is therefore central to promote the transition of nanofluids from the laboratory to industrial implementation by understanding how their physical properties can be optimally enhanced and assessing the impact of such enhancement on the performance of next‐generation, nanofluid‐based solar thermal technologies. This Special Issue welcomes any cutting‐edge contributions leading in that direction, including (but not limited to):

• Synthesis of nanomaterials and preparation of nanofluids (emerging ‘green’ approaches are appreciated).
• Detailed characterisation of thermal, rheological and optical properties of nanofluids.
• Applicability assessment of nanofluids for heat transfer and storage (either sensible or latent) and volumetric absorption in low‐, medium‐ and high‐temperature applications.
• Molecular-modelling‐assisted design of nanofluids (use of microscopic descriptors to understand macroscopic properties).
• Mathematical models for the prediction of properties of nanofluids and thermal performance of solar thermal technologies under operation conditions.

Dr. Iván Carrillo-Berdugo
Dr. Javier Navas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• solar thermal energy
• nanofluids
• green synthesis
• thermal properties
• rheological properties
• optical properties
• molecular modelling
• computational chemistry
• numerical modelling
• heat transfer