Research Article
Udawattha DS, Kasthurige SE
Abstract
Nano fluids consist of thermal conductivity enhancement compared to the base fluid, but the cost of synthesizing of nanoparticles hinders its industrial applications. Recently, it was found that graphene nanolayers can be obtained by shear exfoliation of liquids. Moreover, graphene synthesizes by relatively abandon material graphite. In contrast to conventional heat transfer liquid like water, nanofluids are not transparent to solar thermal applications. It has been proven beyond doubt that kerosene, diesel and gasoline based nanofluids heat transfer coefficient enhancement would improve their efficiency of applications. In this paper water, kerosene, gasoline and diesel based nanofluids containing graphene nanolayers were prepared by shear exfoliation of fluids. Presents of graphene nanolayers were confirmed by scanning electron microscopic images. A spectrophotometer used to measure the stability of water, kerosene, gasoline and diesel nanofluids. Absorption of water-graphene nanofluid was examined to analyze the effectiveness of water based nanofluid for the solar collectors.