Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Nanofluid on the Thermal and Electrical Performance of Solar Cells

Mahdi, Miralam; Khoshnood, Mohammad Reza

doi:10.22034/jrenew.2026.239866

Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Nanofluid on the Thermal and Electrical Performance of Solar Cells

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

miralam mahdi ¹

mohammad reza khoshnood ²

¹ Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

² , Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/jrenew.2026.239866

Abstract

Thermophotovoltaic technology has significantly improved the utilization rate of solar energy by effectively addressing the issues of high temperature and low electrical efficiency in photovoltaic cells. In this study, a photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) system model was simulated using water and alumina nanofluid with three different volume fractions ranging from 0.1% to 3%. The effects of operational parameters such as inlet temperature, solar radiation, ambient temperature, and mass flow rate of the cooling fluid were numerically investigated. The simulation was conducted using ANSYS Fluent software with a two-phase mixture model. The risers were considered as longitudinal circular tubes, and simulations were performed for mass flow rates ranging from 10 L/h to 60 L/h for both water and alumina nanofluid with three different volume fractions. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of the nanofluid were introduced into the software via a User-Defined Function (UDF). The variations in fluid outlet temperature, solar cell temperature, pressure drop, thermal efficiency, electrical efficiency, and overall efficiency were analyzed as a function of mass flow rate. The results indicate that the nanofluid with a 2.5% volume fraction achieves the highest thermal efficiency.

Keywords

PV/T system

flow heat transfer

computational fluid dynamics

thermal efficiency

electrical efficiency

Subjects

Solar Energy

- مراجع

[1] A. Royne and C. J. Dey, Design of a jet impingement cooling device for densely packed PV cells under high concentration, Solar energy, Vol. 81, No. 8, pp. 1014–1024, 2007.

[2] M. M. Adeli, F. Sobhnamayan, M. A. Alavi, S. Farahat, and F. Sarhaddi, Experimental exergetic performance evaluation of a photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector and comparison with numerical simulation, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part E: Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 225, No. 3, pp. 161–172, 2011.

[3] M. M. Adeli, F. Sobhnamayan, S. Farahat, M. A. Alavi, and F. Sarhaddi, Experimental performance evaluation of a photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector and its optimization, Strojniški vestnik-Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 309–318, 2012.

[4] F. Sarhaddi, S. Farahat, H. Ajam, A. Behzadmehr, and M. M. Adeli, An improved thermal and electrical model for a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector, Appl Energy, Vol. 87, No. 7, pp. 2328–2339, 2010.

[5] J. Barrau, J. Rosell, D. Chemisana, L. Tadrist, and M. Ibáñez, Effect of a hybrid jet impingement/micro-channel cooling device on the performance of densely packed PV cells under high concentration, Solar energy, Vol. 85, No. 11, pp. 2655–2665, 2011.

[6] S. Agrawal and G. N. Tiwari, Energy and exergy analysis of hybrid micro-channel photovoltaic thermal module, Solar energy, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 356–370, 2011.

[7] M.A.Mahdavi,S.Farahat “Laboratory study of the effect of changing the concentration of nanofluid as a coolant on the efficiency of photovoltaic collector Thermal ,” ISME2014-16950.

[8] I. Ghahfarkhi, F. Sarhadi and Al. Hosseinnejad, Numerical study of the performance of a solar photovoltaic thermal collector with nanofluid for laminar flow, Third International Conference on New Approaches in Energy Conservation, 2014. (in Persian)

[9] Y. Khanjari, F. Pourfayaz, and A. B. Kasaeian, Numerical investigation on using of nanofluid in a water-cooled photovoltaic thermal system, Energy Convers Manag, Vol. 122, pp. 263–278, 2016.

[10] M. Khodadadi, S. Ali, Z. Ebrahimpour, and M. Sheikholeslami, Thermal performance of nanofluid with employing of NEPCM in a PVT-LFR system, Sustain Energy Technol Assessments, Vol. 47, pp.101340, 2021.

[11] Y. Jia, F. Ran, C. Zhu, and G. Fang, Numerical analysis of photovoltaic-thermal collector using nanofluid as a coolant, Solar Energy, Vol. 196, pp. 625–636, 2020.

[12] C. Shen, F. Liu, S. Qiu, X. Liu, F. Yao, and Y. Zhang, Numerical study on the thermal performance of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) collector with different parallel cooling channels, Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, Vol. 45, pp. 101101, 2021.

[13] B. Yan et al., Numerical and experimental investigation of photovoltaic/thermal systems: parameter analysis and determination of optimum flow, Sustainability, Vol. 14, No. 16, pp.10156, 2022.

[14] C. H. Chon, K. D. Kihm, S. P. Lee, and S. U. S. Choi, Empirical correlation finding the role of temperature and particle size for nanofluid (Al2O3) thermal conductivity enhancement, Appl Phys Lett, Vol. 87, No. 15, pp. 153107, 2005.

[15] X. Wang, X. Xu, and S. U. S. Choi, Thermal conductivity of nanoparticle-fluid mixture, J Thermophys Heat Trans, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 474–480, 1999.

[16] M. R. Gomaa, M. Al-Dhaifallah, A. Alahmer, and H. Rezk, Design, modeling, and experimental investigation of active water cooling concentrating photovoltaic system, Sustainability, Vol. 12, No. 13, pp. 5392, 2020.

[17] M. Sardarabadi, M. Passandideh-Fard, and S. Z. Heris, Experimental investigation of the effects of silica/water nanofluid on PV/T (photovoltaic thermal units), Energy, Vol. 66, pp. 264–272, 2014.

[18] G. Hailu and A. S. Fung, Optimum tilt angle and orientation of photovoltaic thermal system for application in greater Toronto area, Canada, Sustainability, Vol. 11, No. 22, pp. 6443, 2019.

[19] M. Sardarabadi, M. Hosseinzadeh, A. Kazemian, and M. Passandideh-Fard, Experimental investigation of the effects of using metal-oxides/water nanofluids on a photovoltaic thermal system (PVT) from energy and exergy viewpoints, Energy, Vol. 138, pp. 682–695, 2017.

[20] F. Yazdanifard, M. Ameri, and E. Ebrahimnia-Bajestan, Performance of nanofluid-based photovoltaic/thermal systems: a review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 76, pp. 323–352, 2017.

[21] S. R. Maadi, H. Sabzali, A. Kolahan, and D. Wood, Improving the performance of PV/T systems by using conical-leaf inserts in the coolant tubes, Solar Energy, Vol. 212, pp. 84–100, 2020.

[22] A. A. Hawwash, A. K. A. Rahman, S. A. Nada, and S. Ookawara, Numerical investigation and experimental verification of performance enhancement of flat plate solar collector using nanofluids, Appl Therm Eng, Vol. 130, pp. 363–374, 2018.