Scattering and absorption properties of carbon nanohorn-based nanofluids for solar energy applications

In this work we investigated the scattering and absorption properties of nanofluids consisting in aqueous suspensions of single wall carbon nanohorns. The characteristics of these nanofluids were evaluated in order to use them as direct sunlight absorber fluids in solar devices. The investigation was carried our for nanohorns of different morphologies and for suspensions prepared with different amounts of surfactant. The differences in optical properties induced by carbon nanoparticles compared to those of pure water lead to a considerably higher sunlight absorption with respect to the pure base fluid. Scattered light over the total attenuation of light was found to be nearly negligible at NIR wavelengths. Both these effects, together with the possible chemical functionalization of carbon nanohorns, make this new kind of nanofluids very interesting for increasing the overall efficiency of the sunlight exploiting device. [DOI: 10.2971/jeos.2011.11025]