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Raza Shah & Hafiz Muhammad Ali
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 Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Applications of hybrid nanofluids in solar energy, practical limitations and T

challenges: A critical review
⁎
Tayyab Raza Shah, Hafiz Muhammad Ali
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila 47050, Pakistan

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar energy is the ultimate perceived solution of incessantly proliferating energy crisis. Diverse range of solar
Solar energy energy conversion systems has been employed to convert solar energy into desired useful form. Performance of
Solar energy storage solar energy systems is subject to the type of the working fluid that they use for solar energy conversion and
Hybrid nanofluids transportation. Application of hybrid nanofluids in solar energy systems as working fluid has turned out to be
Challenges
very gainful in terms of performance, owing to distinct thermal transportation characteristics of hybrid nano-
Industrial realization
fluids. Current article has briefly reviewed the studies discoursing the performance of hybrid nanofluid based
solar energy systems. Moreover, the performance of solar energy systems based on mono nanofluids has also
been overviewed. Considering the importance, fabrication methods and characteristics of hybrid nanofluids as
well as their implications on performance parameters of solar systems have been discussed. Reviewed studies
have reported remarkable enhancement in power output and efficiency of these systems. However, there are
several issues associated with hybrid nanofluids that have abstained the commercialization of binary nanofluid
based systems. These issues include instability, increased friction factor, rheological issues, and increased
pumping power. Subsequently, economic and ecologic gains of using binary nanofluids in solar energy systems
are presented.

1. Introduction mechanisms/systems are keenly being studied to elaborate future pro-

Horrendous population explosion has erupted sever energy crisis.
Primary resources of energy (PE) are about to be used up due to in-
cessantly increasing energy consumption. Renewable means of power
generation are gauged to fulfill the ever-mounting power demands
proficiently since they comprise almost 40 percent of total PE resources
(BP Energy Outlook, 2018). Inexhaustible solar energy is an imperative
energy resource which magnitudes 1.2 × 105 TW (Makarieva et al.,
2008). Because of eminent potential, world’s top economies are heeding
to utilize sun’s energy as much as they can (Hepbasli and Alsuhaibani,
2011). Policy formulation regarding solar energy utilization is un-
derway in many countries having potential solar sites (Solangi et al.,
2011; Asif, 2009; Zhang, 2008). Solar energy can be used in many ways
like electricity generation, food preservation, steam generation, air
conditioning, refrigeration, and heating systems (Mekhilef et al., 2011).
Apart from power generation edge, solar energy is appraised to level
positive impacts on earth’s ecology as well by minimalizing the ha-
zardous emissions from conventional power producing plants like coal
or furnace oil based power industries (Hernandez et al., 2014;
Kalogirou, 2004). Solar energy and solar energy conversion
spects and perspectives (either positive or negative) of solar energy
(Goetzberger et al., 2002).
Imperativeness of solar energy conversion mechanisms is undeni-
able for the formidable exploitation of solar energy. Solar energy is
converted into useful form by various conversion methods e.g. photo-
thermal conversion, photoelectric conversion, photochemical conver-
sion, and photothermal-photoelectric conversion via different conver-
sion systems. Photoelectric conversion is accomplished via silicon based
photovoltaic modules (Fendler, 1985), photochemical via photosynth-
esis process (Balzani et al., 2008), photothermal via solar collectors
(DASC, flat plate, and evacuated tube) (Novinger, 1979; Tyagi et al.,
2009), and photelectric-photothermal conversion via photovoltaic-
thermal system (Coventry, 2005), either concentrated or un-
concentrated (Fig. 1). Performance of these systems is chiefly linked
with the characteristics of working fluid that they use for energy con-
version or transportation (Ginley et al., 2008).
Diverse range of working fluids has been tested in solar collectors.
Conventionally, water, oil, ethylene glycol and different lubricants were
employed in an effort to cultivate the performance of solar collectors
(Minardi and Chuang, 1975; Budihardjo et al., 2007). Performance of

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: h.m.ali@uettaxila.edu.pk (H.M. Ali).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.03.012
Received 15 November 2018; Received in revised form 16 February 2019; Accepted 5 March 2019
0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

Nomenclature TW tera watt

Vol.% volume fraction
Abbreviations VSC volumetric solar collector
w worth factor
A area wt.% weight fraction
AR aspect ratio Gt global solar radiation (W/m2)
CNT carbon nanotube UL overall loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
cP centipoise
cp specific heat Greek letters
CR concentration Ratio
D diameter of nanoparticles α absorbance
DASC direct absorption solar collector φ concentration
DI deionized Δ difference
FR heat removal factor μ dynamic viscosity
G solar irradiance η efficiency (%)
h height of nanosheet τs shear stress
K thermal conductivity τ transmittivity
m mass λ wavelength (nm)
m.% mass fraction
Nu Nusselt number Subscripts
P power output
T temperature (K) bf base fluid
t time nf nanofluid

these systems was not impressive enough to make them commercial.
However, the invention of colloidal fluids that contained nanosized
colloidal particles carrying high heat transportation characteristics,
dispersed in conventional fluids, entirely changed the scenario. Ele-
vated heat transportation of these colloidal fluids named as nanofluids
is attributed to the high thermal characteristics of dispersed nano-
particles (Mahian et al., 2013). Nanosized metals (Al, Cu, Zn, Ag, Au,
etc.), metal-oxides (SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, ZnO, CuO, etc.) or organic par-
ticles (carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, diamond, etc.) could be
disseminated in host fluid (water, ethylene glycol or oil/lubricant) to
make nanofluids (Park et al., 2011; Murshed et al., 2005; Amrollahi
et al., 2009).
Thermal management of these systems is another complication,
needed to repeal the development of thermal stresses due to the over-
heating of the system. Photovoltaic modules are highly vulnerable to
overheating; as the temperature of PV modules surges past 25 °C, their
efficiency declines proportionally, emphasizing that, potent cooling of
PV modules is mandatory. Different methods of PV cooling have been
practiced that include natural or forced air circulation, water circula-
tion, and nanofluid based cooling (Bashir et al., 2018; Yang and Shen,
Fig. 1. Solar energy conversion and types of systems.
2006). Ali et al. (2018) discoursed the thermal manipulation ability of
PV modules via nanofluids and extrapolated that the thermal stresses
can be relieved and efficiency can be proliferated extensively. Karami
and Rahimi (2014) circulated Boehmite nanofluid at 80 ml/min at the
rear surface of PV module and reported 53.76% mean abatement in the
temperature compared to water cooled PV module. Solar energy of
these systems can be preserved as well via phase change materials
(PCM). These materials store thermal energy and later release it when
needed (Hasan et al., 2010; Qureshi et al., 2018; Rehman, 2018). Ac-
cording to the most recent studies, hybrid nanofluids are reported to
optimize the performance of solar systems better than any other
available working fluid due to the synergistic effect of individual na-
noparticles (Minea and El-Maghlany, 2018).
Binary nanofluids exhibit distinct heat carrying characteristics
which has broadened their use in diverse applications. Nuim Labib et al.
(2013) reported remarkable enhancement in coefficient of heat transfer
(h) of CNTs-H2O nanofluid by dispersing Al2O3 nanoparticles. 22.8%
and 59.86% enhancement in convection heat transfer coefficient (h)
was observed by adding 0.6 and 1.6 vol% of Al2O3 nanoparticles in
0.05 vol% CNTs-H2O nanofluid respectively. Nimmagadda and
Venkatasubbaiah (2015) performed numerical study and observed
17–18% enhancement in h of water by disseminating 3.0 vol% Al2O3
nanoparticles. Dispersion of 3.0 vol% Ag nanoparticles resulted in
111–144% enhancement in h. Furthermore, the enhancement elevated
up to 126–148% by the inclusion of 0.6 vol% Al2O3 and 2.4 vol% Ag
nanoparticles in water. They evaluated that the reduction in size and
increment in concentration of nanoparticles improved heat transpor-
tation performance. Vafaei et al. (2017) employed ANN modeling to
predict the thermal conductivity of MgO-MWCNTs/EG hybrid nano-
fluid and compared the results with previous 36 experimental studies.
Experimental and modeling result were found to converge, in turns
proving the validity of ANN modeling. Thermal performance of oils can
also be improved by the inclusion of hybrid nanoparticles. Wei et al.
(2017) dispersed SiC-TiO2 hybrid nanoparticles in diathermic oil and
observed remarkable elevation in thermal conductivity. At 1 vol% of
hybrid nanoparticles, the increment in ratio of thermal conductivity of
diathermic oil reached up to 8.39%. Dalkılıç et al. (2018) carried out
extensive experimentation to appraise thermal conductivity of CNT-
SiO2/DI-water hybrid nanofluid. They tested three different nano-
particle concentrations and set the temperature test range 25–60 °C.

174
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

They recorded enhancement in thermal conductivity of the hybrid na-

nofluid up to 26.29% and on average the enhancement was observed to
be 20.13%. Likewise, many other research studies have reported
anomalous augmentation in thermal conductivity of hybrid nanofluids
– a key parameter for a working fluid to have in solar energy systems. It
is important to notice that the nanoparticles of high thermal con-
ductivity are generally of high price (such as silver) and nanofluids of
these metals show minimal stability period. Aparna et al. (2019) ap-
praised the thermal conductivity of nanofluids containing Al2O3, Ag,
and Al2O3-Ag nanoparticles. Observed thermal conductivity of hybrid
nanofluid was almost identical to the thermal conductivity of silver
nanofluid. Hybrid nanofluid was also reported to have good stability
period. These evidences greatly support the notion of using hybrid
nanofluids to overcome cost and stability complications. Besides
thermal conductivity elevation, hybrid nanofluids offer better rheolo-
gical and flow characteristics as well compared to unitary nanofluids. Fig. 2. (a) Raw MWCNTs aqueous solution, (b) Purified MWCNTs aqueous
Bahrami et al. (2016) examined the rheology of Fe-Cu/EG-H2O hybrid solution (Munkhbayar et al., 2013).
nanofluid. Temperature of the fluid was set to vary between 25 and
50 °C. They observed that increase in concentration (from 0.05 vol% to
In single step method, all the necessary actions are performed
1.5 vol%) increased the viscosity (almost 2200%) and the temperature
contemporarily in a single step to prepare a nanofluid. This method is
increment reduced the viscosity. Eshgarf and Afrand (2016) observed
specifically used for preparing physically stable and high quality na-
20,000% elevation in viscosity of f-MWCNTs-TiO2/EG-H2O nanofluid
nofluids in terms of thermal characteristic and physical specifications. It
as the concentration increased from 0 vol% to 2.0 vol%. At high con-
is a controlled approach to fabricate nanofluids that contain extremely
centration, viscosity can be more adequately manipulated by shear
small sized nanoparticles – disseminated in base fluid.
rates. Immense escalation in viscosity is expected to cause inevitable
Munkhbayar et al. (2013) prepared Ag-MWCNT/H2O binary nano-
increase in friction factor which will require more pumping power to
fluid via single step method. Because of hydrophobic nature, MWCNTs
displace the fluid. Properties of these fluids display immense implica-
were chemically treated to ensure maximum dissemination in water.
tion on the performance of the systems that employ binary nanofluids
Nitric acid and sulfuric acid were used for the purification of MWCNTs.
(Baru et al., 2016). Brief comparison analysis of rheological behavior of
After 5 h of ultrasonication, purification process yielded pure MWCNTs,
mono-nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids has been presented by
weighing 0.7 g as shown in Fig. 2. Afterwards, the size and structure of
Khodadadi et al. (2018) and Babar et al. (2019) in the most recent
pure multi-wall carbon nanotubes were evaluated via TEM images. The
review studies.
reason behind infamous dispersibility of MWCNTs in water is large
Ample use of hybrid nanofluids has been reported in the multiple
structure size. Grinding is suggested for shortening the length of carbon
systems. Sahid et al. (2017) used TiO2-ZnO/EG hybrid nanofluid as
nanotubes. MWCNTs were later ultrasonicated in aqueous solution for
coolant in a machining process and reiterated that these fluids were
40 min to obtain optimum dispersion. Binary nanofluid comprising of
suitable for ecological and economical gains. Rabiei et al. (2017) also
silver and MWCNTs dispersed in water was prepared by pulse wire
reported the binary nanofluids to eco-advocating. Binary nanofluids
evaporation method that essentially requires four components in-
were reported to be suitable for refrigeration by Kasaeipoor et al.
cluding high voltage (HV) DC-power supply, HV gap switch, capacitor
(2017). Performance of hybrid nanofluids in electronics, cutting pro-
bank and changer in which evaporation/condensation is carried out.
cess, and lubrication systems has been complimented by Selvakumar
90 mm feeding length of pulse wire was used in reaction chamber. A
and Suresh (2012), Sharma et al. (2017), and Zhang et al. (2015) re-
voltage of 300 V was passed through the wire to cause evaporation of
spectively., Furthermore, the application of these fluids in solar energy
silver pulse wire and Ag-DI water nanofluid prepared by PWE method.
systems has yielded commending results.
MWCNT’s-water mixture was later mixed with Ag nanoparticles to form
Current article in its start presents brief description of hybrid na-
a binary nanofluid containing 0.05 wt% of MWCNTs and 3 wt% of Ag in
nofluids in terms of fabrication techniques and characteristics.
basefluid i.e. DI water. Microscopic evaluations showed 100 nm size of
Subsequent section overviews the effect of mono-nanofluids on the
silver, maximum absorption of 2.506 at 264 mm wavelength and 14.5%
performance of solar energy systems. Extensive reviews of almost all
increment in thermal conductivity at 40 °C.
the available studies focusing solar energy systems that used hybrid
Aberoumand and Jafarimoghaddam (2018) prepared WO3-Ag/
nanofluid as working fluid are presented in this study. Performance
transformer Oil hybrid nanofluid using single step electrical explosion
parameters of aforementioned systems are critically analyzed and the
wire (EEW) method. They disseminated 99.9% pure WO3 (60 nm dia-
factors that influence these parameters are comprehensively illustrated.
meter) nanoparticles in transformer oil basefluid to form WO3/trans-
Concluding sections are focused on detailed description of the chal-
former oil nanofluid which was later used as basefluid in which silver
lenges that the hybrid nanofluid based solar systems are facing and the
was mixed by passing high voltage through evaporative thin wire of
recommendations for delimiting the application of hybrid nanofluids in
silver that disseminated in WO3/transformer oil basefluid upon elec-
solar energy are presented. Eventually, the economic and ecological
trical explosion thus forming WO3-Ag/transformer oil hybrid nanofluid.
advantages of aforementioned systems are discussed.
Following the analysis, thermal conductivity of binary nanofluid im-
proved by 41% at 100 °C at 4 wt%.
2. Fabrication and characteristics of hybrid nanofluids
Wagener et al. (1996) used single step sputtering method to prepare
nanofluid containing particles of silver and iron metals suspended in an
2.1. Fabrication
organic basefluid. They demonstrated the variation in nanoparticle’s
size as a function of sputtering atmosphere pressure. Increment in
Current section summarizes the methods used for the fabrication of
Argon pressure increased particle size. This method of suspending
binary nanofluids and their vital characteristics. Fabrication method is
particles has been used by Akoh et al. (1978) way back in 1978. Hung
among the key factors that determine the features and characteristics of
et al. (2017) adopted single step method to prepare hybrid nanofluid
hybrid nanofluid. There are two methods of preparing hybrid nano-
that comprised of amorphous carbon, graphene oxide (GO) and
fluids; one step method and two step method (Ranga Babu et al., 2017).

175
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

graphite which they further used in a cooling system. Teng et al. (2016) nanofluids as per reported in the most recent research articles.
also adopted single step method to prepare nanofluids based on nano-
carbons.
2.2.1. Thermal characteristics
Formation of nanoparticles and mixing in the basefluid is carried
It is of utmost importance for a fluid to have good thermal char-
out contemporarily, that’s why it is called single step method and this
acteristics, if it is to be used in solar energy application systems such as
method is suitable for preparing nanofluids of small quantity.
photovoltaic-thermal systems or solar collectors. Numerous studies
Controlling the magnitude of voltage and power, passing through the
addressing the evaluation of thermal conductivity or heat transfer
thin metal wire can help manipulate the size of the nanoparticles being
characteristics of hybrid nanofluids are available. Hemmat Esfe et al.
formed as a result of electrical explosion. Fig. 3 explains the single step
(2017) evaluated the thermal conductivity of SiO2-MWCNT/EG hybrid
EEW or PWE method. Since, single step method is comparatively
nanofluid as a function of temperature and concentration of nanofluid
complex therefore it is used infrequently.
both experimentally and numerically. Error analysis implied strong
Two step method of nanofluid preparation involves production of
agreement between experimental and numerical results. They varied
nanoparticles in powder form via mechanical or chemical action fol-
the temperature and concentration from 30–50 °C and 0.05–1.95 vol%
lowed by its mixing with basefluid (Fig. 4). Powdered nanoparticles are
respectively. A maximum of 22.2% enhancement in thermal con-
dispersed in the basefluid via extreme shearing action which is termed
ductivity ration TCR (i.e. ratio of thermal conductivity of nanofluid and
as ultrasonication (Sidik et al., 2016). Intensity as well as period of
basefluid) was observed at 50 °C and 1.95 vol%. Experimental results
ultrasonication exhibit vital role in the stability of nanofluid.
showed nonlinear variation in thermal conductivity of hybrid nanofluid
Suresh et al. (2011) applied a thermochemical method to prepare
as a function of concentration and temperature of nanofluid as shown in
powdered Al2O3-Cu hybrid nanoparticles by using Cu(NO3)2-3H2O and
Fig. 6. Increasing the concentration of nanofluid increased the number
Al(NO3)3-9H2O as starting materials. Aqueous solution of aforemen-
of nanoparticles which caused overwhelming increment in the thermal
tioned salts was prepared and then spray drying was done at 180 °C.
conductivity. Increase in temperature of hybrid nanofluid caused in-
Spray-drying yielded nanocomposite powder which was then heated at
creased Brownian motion of suspended nanoparticles and thus in-
about 900 °C for one hour and obtained CuO-Al2O3 powder mixture.
creased the number of collisions which increased the thermal con-
This mixture was further heated at 400 °C for one hour in an atmo-
ductivity of the hybrid nanofluid.
sphere of hydrogen and then again heated in horizontal alumina tube
Afrand (2017) evaluated the thermal conductivity of f-MWCNT-
by SiC heating elements. In order to produce metallic Cu, reduction of
MgO/EG nanofluid as a function of temperature and volume con-
CuO was carried out. Homogenous nanocomposite powder of Al2O3-Cu
centration of nanofluid. Experimental and numerical results were found
was produced by ball-milling action that lasted for an hour at a rate of
to be convergent. He found linear increment in TCR with increasing
400 rpm. Certain amount of Al2O3-Cu mixture was then dispersed in
nanoparticle concentration. Although, increasing temperature caused
deionized water using ultrasonication process at 180 W ultrasonic pulse
increase in thermal conductivity of the hybrid nanofluid but the TCR
and 40 Hz for 6 h to ascertain uniform suspension of nanoparticles in
was observed to decline slightly with increasing temperature because
the basefluid. Sodium lauryl sulphate was used as surfactant to ensure
the thermal conductivity of the EG increased more significantly with
long lasing suspension of nanoparticles in the basefluid. Amount of
temperature as compared to the hybrid nanofluid (see Fig. 6b). Rela-
composite powder being dispersed in the basefluid is set in such a way
tively greater size of MgO nanoparticles could be the reason behind
to obtain desired concentrations. This thermochemical method in-
unwanted agglomeration. Decline in TCR as a function of temperature
volved spray-drying, oxidation and subsequent reduction of powdered
was attributed to the agglomeration or clusters formation in the na-
nanoparticles.
nofluid which limited the Brownian motion of the particles and im-
Nabil et al. (2017) applied two step method to prepare TiO2-SiO2/
peded the number of collisions between the nanoparticles. 21.3% in-
H2O-EG (60:40) nanofluid to conduct rheological and thermal con-
crease in TCR was observed at 0.6 vol% and 25 °C. Testing range of
ductivity analysis. They procured TiO2-SiO2 nanoparticles (50 mm and
concentration and temperature was kept between 0–0.6 vol% and
20 nm respectively) from US Research Nanomaterials, Inc and dispersed
25–50 °C.
them in H2O-EG (60:40) basefluid with 40 wt% and 25 wt% con-
Sarbolookzadeh Harandi et al. (2016) also studied the effect of
centration. Magnetic stirring and ultrasonication was employed for
temperature and nanoparticle concentration on the thermal con-
90 min to ensure stable dispersion of particles in the basefluid. It is
ductivity ratio of hybrid nanofluid by using f-MWCNTs-Fe3O4/EG hy-
highly recommended to use pure nanoparticles to attain prolonged
brid nanofluid via experimentation as well as numerical analysis. They
stability. They observed the nanofluid to be stable even after 30 days as
used a temperature and concentration range as 0–2.3 vol% and
shown in Fig. 5. Similarly, Allahyar et al. (2016) purchased Al2O3-Ag/
H2O (97.5% Al2O3 and 2.5% Ag) hybrid nanofluid and used it as a heat
transferring fluid. Hybrid nanofluid was prepared by two step method
in which nanoparticles (80 nm) were produced by sol-gel method and
then dispersed in basefluid. They reported 48-hour stability period of
hybrid nanofluid. Many other researchers such as Asadi et al. (2018)
and Hemmat Esfe et al. (2015) have used two step method to prepare
hybrid nanofluids because of its relative simplicity and reliability. This
method is economical and supportive for producing nanofluid in bulk
extent.

2.2. Characteristics of hybrid nanofluids

A number of studies have been conducted to probe the character-

istics of hybrid nanofluids. Majority of the researchers have reported
encouraging results. Hybrid nanofluids have been found to have opti-
mized characteristics, proving them to be suitable for the solar systems
that require good thermal, optical, and rheological characteristics of
working fluid. Following section summarizes important properties such Fig. 3. Schematic of Single Step EEW or PWE Method (Aberoumand and
as optical, thermal, rheological, and morphological properties of hybrid Jafarimoghaddam, 2018).

176
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Fig. 4. Depiction of Two Step Method (Ali et al., 2018).
25–50 °C. Results depicted that the maximum TCR approached up to
30% at 2.3 vol% and 50 °C. Relative increase in TCR was observed to be
higher at high temperature with increasing concentration likewise, at
high concentration the increase in TCR was higher with increasing
temperature. Since at high concentrations large number of nano-
particles are present in the nanofluid, number of collisions become
overwhelmingly greater with increasing temperature which causes a
greater augmentation in TCR as a function of increasing temperature.
Similar study was conducted by Esfahani et al. (2018) and they also
achieved optimum results at highest temperature and concentration i.e.
2 vol% and 50 °C. Toghraie et al. (2016) obtained 32% augmentation in
thermal conductivity of ZnO-TiO2/EG hybrid nanofluid at 3.5 vol% and
50 °C. They used at test range of 25–50 °C temperature and 0–3.5 vol%
nanoparticle concentration.
Leong et al. (2018) broadened the scope of their study and they also
evaluated the effect of type of surfactant, pH value of basefluid, and
sonication period along with nanoparticle weight concentration and
temperature on the thermal conductivity of Cu-TiO2/EG-water hybrid
nanofluid. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), GA, and SDBS were used as
surfactant. PVP outperformed rest of the surfactants and optimum
thermal conductivity increment i.e. 9.8% compared to basefluid was
observed at 0.8 wt% and PVP was used as surfactant. Nanofluid per-
formed best at 7 pH value. Augmented sonication period yielded op-
timum results.
Some other parameters like Nusselt number are as important as
thermal conductivity of the thermo-fluid. Yarmand et al. (2015) re-
ported 32.7% increase in Nusselt number of Graphene nanoparticle
GNP-Ag/H2O hybrid nanofluid at 0.1 wt% and 17,500 Re. Despite of
escalated Nusselt number enhanced friction factor would cause a few
troubles like issues regarding pumping power, etc. but in the current
case the augmentation is negligible.
Thermal properties of hybrid nanofluids are experimentally de-
termined by using a properties analyzer device called KD2 Pro which is
capable to experimentally measure the thermal conductivity (see
Fig. 7), Nusselt number, and specific heat of nanofluids (Nabil et al.,
2017). Several correlations have also been developed to numerically
evaluate the thermal conductivity of hybrid nanofluid.
2.2.2. Rheological characteristics
Rheological properties of working fluid can greatly influence the
performance of solar energy application systems since uncontrolled
Fig. 5. Prepared samples of TiO2-SiO2/H2O-EG hybrid nanofluids after (a) one day and (b) 30 days (Nabil et al., 2017).
177
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
variation in viscosity or density will raise the frictional effects and
pumping power which will malign the overall performance of the sys-
tems. Key factors that influence the rheological characteristics of hybrid
nanofluid include temperature, nanoparticle concentration, and
shearing rate. Alirezaie et al. (2017) experimentally as well as analy-
tically explored the influence of mentioned three parameters on the
rheological properties of f-MWCNT-MgO/Engine oil hybrid nanofluid
with 10% MWCNT and 90% MgO. Dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid
briskly decreased with increasing temperature (25–50 °C) and it in-
creased with increasing concentration of nanoparticles (0.0625–1 vol
%). Increase in shear rate (50–650 RPM) was observed to increase dy-
namic viscosity as well.
Elevation in temperature causes breakdown of interatomic/inter-
molecular forces and excites the movement of particles thus reduction
in dynamic viscosity of the substance prevails accordingly. But with
addition of number of particles i.e. concentration escalation, viscosity
of the substance gets increased (Fig. 8).
Asadi and Asadi (2016) evaluate the rheological properties of ZnO-
MWCNT/engine oil nanofluid and observed similar trends of viscosity
variation as a function of temperature and concentration. Asadi et al.
(2016) conducted similar tests using MgO-MWCNT/SAE50 nanofluid
and observed a positive trend in the viscosity variation with tempera-
ture change. Maximum decrease in dynamic viscosity took place at
40 °C and the decrease became less steep past this temperature. Gra-
phical results depicted that the influence of temperature variation is
way greater than the concentration change. Newtonian behavior of the
hybrid nanofluid was observed in all the working conditions i.e. na-
nofluid followed Newton’s law.
τ = μγ (1)
In Eq. (1), “τ” is the shear stress, “μ” is the dynamic viscosity and “γ”
is the shear strain induced in the fluid due to the shear stress.
Hemmat Esfe et al. (2018) used MWCNT-ZnO/10w40 engine oil,
Moldoveanu et al. (2018) used Al2O3-SiO2/H2O and Motahari et al.
(2017) used MWCNT-SiO2/20W50 oil to evaluate the effects of con-
centration and temperature on the viscosity and their performance re-
sults and developed correlations have been discussed in Table 1.
Nanofluids that do not follow Newton’s law are termed as non-
Newtonian fluids. The formula used for such fluids is as follows.
τ = mγ̇ (2)
In Eq. (2), “m” is consistency index (Pa s n ) and “n” shows power-law
index. Whereas, the viscosity of non-Newtonian fluid is calculated by
the Eq. (3).
μ = mγ̇n − 1 (3)
Afrand et al. (2016) viewed Newtonian character of Fe3O4-Ag/EG
hybrid nanofluid at 0.0375, 0.075, 0.15 and 0.3 vol% whereas at higher
concentrations i.e. 0.6, 1.2 vol% the behavior became non-Newtonian.
In the non-Newtonian regime, the fluids follow power-law model that
explains the performance trends of such fluids. Considering the ex-
perimental results, it was deduced that shearing causes thinning in the
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Fig. 6. Thermal conductivity of (a) SiO2-MWCNT/EG (Hemmat Esfe et al., 2017) (b) f-MWCNT-MgO/EG hybrid nanofluid as a function of temperature and na-
noparticle concentration (Afrand, 2017).
nanofluids and it becomes more significant with increasing temperature
since the consistency index tends to decline. Decrease in viscosity/
consistency index with increasing temperature occurs due to dimin-
ished intermolecular attraction of the nanofluid.
In order to measure the viscosity of hybrid nanofluids several
techniques are employed. Viscometers are used if the viscosity is to be
determined experimentally but if it is to be determined via numerical
methods then correlations could be used for this purpose (Table 1).
Some researchers have also used Artificial Neural Network ANN mod-
eling to determine the viscosity. Any of the mentioned methods could
be used since all the methods yield precise results (Afrand et al., 2016).
2.2.3. Optical characteristics
Performance of solar collectors heavily relies on the optical features
of working fluid. Nanofluids of different nanoparticle suspension have
absorption peaks in different regions of solar radiation i.e. some have
absorption peak in visible region while some have in near infrared (IR)
or ultraviolet (UV) region. A broadband absorption could be attained by
blending the nanoparticles of different absorption peaks (Lee et al.,
2012; Anand et al., 2013; Song et al., 2016).
Jeon et al. (2014) evaluated absorption peaks of a hybrid nanofluid
formed by gold nanorods of different size and CTAB. They observed
high and uniform extinction coefficient line against solar wavelength.
Chen et al. (2017) obtained high absorption peaks in near IR region and
visible region by blending CuO and tin-oxide doped with antimony
nanoparticles since CuO has high absorption coefficient in visible re-
gion whereas ATO has in near IR region. Optical properties are
Fig. 7. (a) Schematic and (b) laboratory setup for thermal conductivity measurement of nanofluid via KD2 Pro thermal property analyzer (Mechiri et al., 2017).
178
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
functioned by morphology and concentration of nanoparticles. Lee
et al. (2012) performed numerical study to explore the solar absorption
of nanofluids of different nanoparticles. Nanofluids based on nano-
shells of Au (GNS) with different concentrations and aluminum depict
different peaks of absorption coefficients against wavelength of solar
radiation. By blending the nanoparticles – having different absorption
peaks can help attain a broad-band absorptivity through all the spec-
trum ranges (as shown in Fig. 9). Aluminum had absorption peaks in UV
and IR regions whereas GNS had absorption peaks in visible region,
blend of these two nanoparticles provided uniform absorption in all the
spectrums.
Several theories are available that could be employed to numeri-
cally evaluate the optical performance parameters such as absorption
coefficient, transmittivity, extinction coefficient, and solar weighted
absorption of nanofluids (Gorji and Ranjbar, 2017).
2.2.4. Morphological characteristics
Morphology of nanofluids holds utmost importance in the char-
acterization of nanofluids. Field emission scanning electron microscopy
(FSEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-Ray dif-
fractometer (XRD) are used to explore the morphology of nanofluids
(Leong et al., 2017). Mentioned techniques precisely determine the
particle size, shape and structure of the nanofluid.
Size of nanoparticles is determined by using x-ray diffraction and
TEM is used to visually analyze the structure of nanoparticles.
Kannaiyan et al. (2017) employed mentioned techniques to evaluate
the shape and size Al2O3-CuO/H2O-EG hybrid nanofluid as shown in
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

Fig. 8. Change in dynamic viscosity with relative change in (a) temperature and concentration (b) shear rate (Alirezaie et al., 2017).

Fig. 10. TEM technique described the actual size of Al2O3 equivalent to
14–20 nm and 20 nm of CuO nanoparticles.
XRD technique is used to capture the pattern of the tested material
and the pattern is used to determine the crystal plane/structure of that
matter by comparing the observed pattern with the pre-determined
crystalline pattern. Purity of a substance could also be validated via this
technique (Sundar et al., 2016). Equation of Debye-Scherrer is sued to
calculate the crystalline size (Zadkhast et al., 2017).
D = kλ / βcosθ (4)
Here, “D”, “k”, “λ”, “β”, “θ” represent crystalline size, shape factor,
wavelength, full-width half maximum (FWHM) and diffraction angle
respectively (Kannaiyan et al., 2017). Furthermore, SEM images are
used to visualize the hybrid nanoparticle structure and more

Table 1
List of important correlations for hybrid nanofluids.
Reference Specifications Correlation

Hemmat Esfe et al. (2017) Working fluid: SiO2-MWCNT/EG Knf

= 0.905 + 0.002069φT + 0.04375φ0.09265T 0.3305 − 0.0063φ3
Temperature range: 30–50 °C Kbf
Concentration range: 0.05–1.95 vol%
Afrand (2017) Working Fluid: MgO-MWCNT/EG Knf
= 0.8341 + 1.1φ0.243T −0.289
Temperature Range: 25–50 °C Kbf
Concentration Range: 0–0.6 vol%
Sarbolookzadeh Harandi et al. (2016) Working Fluid: f-MWCNTs-Fe3O4/EG Knf
= 1 + 0.0162φ0.7038T 0.6009
Temperature Range: 25–50 °C Kbf
Concentration Range: 0–2.3 vol%
Esfahani et al. (2018) Working Fluid: ZnO-Ag/H2O Knf
= 1 + 0.0008794φ0.5899T1.345
Temperature Range: 25–50 °C Kbf
Concentration Range: 0-125-2 vol%
Toghraie et al. (2016) Working Fluid: ZnO-Ag/H2O Knf
= 1 + 0.004503φ0.8717T 0.7972
Temperature Range: 25–50 °C Kbf
Concentration Range: 0–3.5 vol%
Yarmand et al. (2015) Working Fluid: GNP + Ag/H2O NuReg = 0.0017066Re 0.9253Pr 1.29001
Reynold Number: 5000–17,500
Concentration Range: 0–0.1 vol%
Alirezaie et al. (2017) Working Fluid: f-MWCNT-MgO/Engine oil μnf = 4 × 10 4 + 145φ − 240T − 0.061γ + 1.9 × 106φ2 + 0.36T2
Concentration Range: 0.0625–1 vol%
Temperature Range: 25–50 °C
Shear Rate Range = 50–650 RPM
Asadi and Asadi (2016) Working Fluid: f-MWCNT-ZnO/Engine oil μnf = 796.8 + 76.26φ + 12.88T + 0.7695φT +
−196.9T − 16.53φT
Concentration Range: 0.125–1 vol% T −0.5

Temperature Range: 5–55 °C

Asadi et al. (2016) Working Fluid: MgO-MWCNT/SAE50 μnf = 328201 × T −2.053 × φ0.09359
Concentration Range: 0.25–2 vol%
Temperature Range:25–50 °C
Hemmat Esfe et al. (2018) Working Fluid: MWCNT-ZnO/10w40 Engine oil φe−1.023 ⎛
2.046φ
+ 0.4015φ2T ⎞
μnf T
Concentration Range: 0.05–1 vol% ⎝ ⎠
= 1.035 +
μbf T 0.8441
Temperature Range:5–55 °C
Moldoveanu et al. (2018) Working Fluid: Al2O3-SiO2/H2O For 0.5% Al2O3 + 0.5%SiO2: μnf = 0.000005T2 − 0.003T + 0.5
For 0.5% Al2O3 + 1.5%SiO2: μnf = 0.00000T2 − 0.004T + 0.571
Motahari et al. (2017;2.) Working Fluid: MWCNT-SiO2/20W50 oil μnf 2
Concentration Range: 0.05–1 vol% μbf
= 0.09422 − ⎡
⎢
⎣
()T
φ
+ 0.100556T 0.8827φ0.3148⎤ exp(72474.75Tφ3.7951)
⎥
⎦
Temperature Range: 40–100 °C

179
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

Fig. 9. Manifestation of absorption peaks of different nanofluids (Lee et al.,

2012).

specifically the integration of individual nanoparticles with each other.

Fig. 11 represents the structural interaction of carbon and graphene
nanoparticle.
Researchers have rigorously discussed the importance of mor-
phology of nanofluids and its implications on the heat transfer perfor-
mance parameters. Variation in size and shape of nanoparticles greatly
varies the heat transfer rate by nanofluids (Shahsavar and Bahiraei,
2017). According to most of the studies, morphology of nanoparticles
hefts the rheological, photothermal, and thermophysical features of
nanofluids (Soltani and Akbari, 2016). In Tables 1 and 2, comprehen-
sive summary of developed correlations and various characteristics of
Fig. 11. SEM images of (a) activated carbon (AC) and (b) activated carbon-
hybrid nanofluids has been presented. graphene (ACG) (Yarmand et al., 2016).

Fig. 10. (a) TEM image of Al2O3, (b) TEM image of CuO and (c) XRD image of nanoparticles (Kannaiyan et al., 2017).

180
 Table 2
Summary of various characteristics of hybrid nanofluids.
Reference
Hemmat Esfe et al. (2017)
Afrand (2017)
Sarbolookzadeh Harandi et al.
(2016)
Esfahani et al. (2018)
Toghraie et al. (2016)
Leong et al. (2018)
Yarmand et al. (2015)
Alirezaie et al. (2017)
Asadi and Asadi (2016)
181
Asadi et al. (2016)
Hemmat Esfe et al. (2018)
Moldoveanu et al. (2018)
Motahari et al. (2017;2.)
Afrand et al. (2016)
Jeon et al. (2014)
Chen et al. (2017)
Lee et al. (2012)
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Nanofluid Particle size Evaluated property Findings
SiO2-MWCNT/EG SiO2: 20–30 nm average diameter Thermal conductivity 22.2% TCE was achieved at 50 °C and 1.95 vol% compared to base fluid
MWCNTs: 2–6 nm inner and 5–20 nm
external diameter
f-MWCNT-MgO/EG MgO: 40 nm average diameter Thermal conductivity 21.3% TCE was observed at 0.6 vol% and 25 °C compared to base fluid
f-MWCNT: 3–5 nm inner and 5–15 nm
outer diameter
f-MWCNTs-Fe3O4/EG Fe3O4: 20–30 nm average diameter Thermal conductivity 30% TCE was recorded at 2.3 vol% and 50 °C compared to base fluid
f-MWCNTs: 3–5 nm inner and 5–15 nm
outer diameter
ZnO-Ag/H2O ZnO: 20–30 nm diameter Thermal conductivity ∼25.5% TCE was observed at 2 vol% and 50 °C compared to base fluid
Ag: 30–50 nm diameter
ZnO-TiO2/EG TiO2: 30 nm diameter Thermal conductivity Observed 32% TCE of hybrid nanofluid at 3.5 vol% and 50 °C compared to base fluid
ZnO: 35–45 nm diameter
Cu-TiO2/EG- H2O 40–60 nm Thermal conductivity Reported 9.8% TCE as compared to basefluid at 0.8 wt%
GNP + Ag/H2O N/A Nusselt number Nusselt number increased by 32.70% at 0.1 wt% and 17,500 Re compared to base fluid. Frictional
factor was reported to increase by 1.08 times. Both parameters i.e. Nusselt number and friction
factor increased with increasing Reynold number
f-MWCNT-MgO/Engine oil f-MWCNTs: 10–30 nm diameter Dynamic viscosity Viscosity increased by 10% with shear rate escalation from 50 to 650 RPM and 75% reduction in
MgO: 40 nm diameter viscosity took place with elevation in temperature from 25 to 50 °C. 500 cP maximum viscosity
was observed at 1 vol% and 25 °C
ZnO-MWCNT/Engine oil 30 nm Dynamic viscosity 45% maximum enhancement in dynamic viscosity was observed at 1 vol% and 55°C. Dynamic
viscosity decreased by 85% with temperature increment from 5 to 55 °C. 250 cP maximum fluid
viscosity was reported at 15 °C and 1 vol%
MgO-MWCNT/SAE50 30 nm average diameter Dynamic viscosity At 40 °C and 2 vol%, a maximum of 65% increase in dynamic viscosity occurred. At 0.025%
volume concentration, the viscosity elevation did not exceed 20% for all the tested temperatures
up to 55 °C. By increasing the temperature viscosity reduction was reported 77% for all tested
concentrations. 240 cP viscosity of fluid was observed at 2 vol% and 35 °C
MWCNT-ZnO/10w40 Engine oil ZnO: 10–20 nm average diameter Dynamic viscosity Almost 77% reduction in viscosity occurred with temperature increasing from 15 °C to 55 °C. 240
MWCNTs: 2–6 nm inner and 5–20 nm cP maximum fluid viscosity was observed at 15 °C and 0.08 vol%
outer diameter
Al2O3-SiO2/H2O Al2O3: 45 nm Dynamic viscosity Nanofluids showed non-Newtonian behavior for all the test conditions, shear thinning was
SiO2: 20 nm observed for alumina and its hybrid nanofluids, and shear thickening was observed for silica
nanofluid
MWCNT-SiO2/20W50 oil SiO2: 40 nm diameter MWCNT: 20 nm Dynamic viscosity 171% augmentation in viscosity of the nanofluid occurred as compared to basefluid at 1 vol% and
diameter 100 °C. Approximately 80% viscosity reduction was reported graphically as the temperature
increased from 40 to 100 °C. 290 cP viscosity of hybrid nanofluid at 40 °C and 1.0 vol% was
reported
Fe3O4-Ag/EG Fe3O4: 20–30 nm Dynamic viscosity At 0.3 vol%, about 50% viscosity reduction was graphically reported as the temperature elevated
Ag: 30–50 nm from 25 to 50 °C. Highest viscosity of hybrid nanofluid was reported 27 cP at 25 °C and 0.3 vol%
Au nanorods of different 15.8, 15, 17 nm diameter of short, mid, Absorptivity High absorption peaks in visible, and IR regions were observed. 1.68 cm−1 absorption and
size + CTAB and long AuNR respectively 1.77 cm−1 extinction coefficient has been reported in visible region. 2.2 cm−1 maximum
extinction coefficient was observed at approximately 550 mm wavelength for hybrid nanofluid
CuO-ATO/H2O CuO: 10 nm Absorptivity Broad-band (300–1400 nm) absorption was obtained
ATO: 15 nm
Al-GNS/H2O 2.5 nm radius of Al and different GNS sizes Absorptivity Approximately 23 mm−1, absorption peak was observed at almost 800 nm wavelength in case of
proposed hybrid nanofluid
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
3. Applications of nanofluids in solar energy
Considering the heat transfer and solar absorption potential of na-
nofluids, a number of research studies have tested both unitary and
binary nanofluids in variety of solar systems such as photovoltaic
thermal systems (Jia et al., 2019), solar steam generation systems, solar
collectors (Nagarajan et al., 2014), solar energy storage systems, etc.
Following sections briefly review the application of mono and hybrid
nanofluids in PV/T systems and solar collectors.
3.1. Overview of application of mono-nanofluids in solar energy
3.1.1. Photovoltaic-thermal systems
Electrical power generation via PV modules is the most effective
application of solar energy but unfortunately the power generation rate
tends to decline as the intensity of solar radiation increases, resulting in
module temperature escalation. Using nanofluids for cooling cause of
PV modules is the most effective technique amongst the PV cooling
methods to eschew the temperature elevation. Considerable elevation
in power output of PV systems has been reported in the literature when
cooled by nanofluids compared to uncooled systems. Sardarabadi et al.
(2014) used SiO2/H2O nanofluid for heat capturing in PV/T system and
observed drastic exergy efficiency escalation. Exergy efficiency of the
PV/T system increased by 19.36%, 22.61% and 24.31% compared to
reference system when using water, 1 wt% nanofluid and 3 wt% na-
nofluid respectively. Michael and Iniyan (2015) used CuO/H2O nano-
fluid in PV/T system and observed 45.76% elevation in thermal effi-
ciency compared to water based PV/T system.
When using nanofluids in the collectors integrated with PV module,
several other factor such as inlet velocity of nanofluid, nanoparticle
volume fraction and type of dispersed nanoparticles in base fluid sig-
nificantly influence the system’s performance. Khanjari et al. (2016)
numerically evaluated that increasing the inlet velocity of working fluid
and particle volume fraction increased the rate of heat transfer and
thermodynamic efficiencies (1st and 2nd law) of PV/T system. Radwan
et al. (2016) tested the effect of mass flowrate and volume fraction on
the performance of low concentrated PV/T system at different con-
centration ratios. Their study reported that as the Reynold number in-
creased from 10 to 100 the PV cell’s electrical efficiency increased from
17.8% to 18.8%. Ebaid et al. (2018) concluded that the abatement in
cell temperature is the function of weight fraction of nanoparticles in
the basefluid and the flowrate of the working fluid. Expedition in
concentration of nanoparticle and flowrate of nanofluid resulted in
cell’s temperature impediment owing to higher heat transfer rates.
Using Al2O3 based nanofluid was found to have decreased the cell
temperature much greater than the TiO2 based nanofluid and water.
Whereas, TiO2 based nanofluid outperformed Al2O3 based nanofluid
and water-based system in terms of electrical efficiency of the system.
Different nanoparticle based nanofluids yield different efficiency
enhancement due to different thermophysical properties and stabilities
(Sardarabadi et al., 2014; Abd-Allah et al., 2016; Karami and Rahimi,
2014; Sardarabadi and Passandideh-Fard, 2016) (Fig. 12). Al-Waeli
et al. (2017a) comprehensively conducted an indoor comparative study
by using SiC, Al2O3 and CuO nanoparticles in water as base fluid. Ex-
perimental results revealed that the thermal conductivity improved by
1.96, 3.42 and 4.8% when using Al2O3, CuO, and SiC nanoparticle
based nanofluids respectively. These nanofluids showed considerable
stability period as well.
3.1.2. Flat plate solar collectors
Flat plate solar collectors have been used for converting solar energy
into thermal energy of working fluid. Yousefi et al. (2012) used Al2O3-
H2O nanofluid as heat absorbing medium in flat plate solar collector
exposed to direct sunlight. Major factors that affected the performance
of the collector include flowrate of fluid, volume fraction, and surfac-
tant. Efficiency of the nanofluid based collector increased with
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Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
increasing flowrate against large temperature difference between inlet
and outlet of the collector but relationship was observed to be inverse
between flowrate and efficiency when the temperature difference was
small. Addition of surfactant added positive impact on the performance
of the collector in terms of efficiency. Zamzamian et al. (2014) deduced
from the experimental study that the flat plat collector’s efficiency
improved with increasing fraction of Cu nanoparticles in ethylene
glycol basefluid since the value of removed energy parameter decreased
with increasing volume fraction under all the flowrates (0.5, 1 and
1.5 l/min) and energy absorbance parameter was increased. Efficiency
of the collector was observed to be greater at 1.5 l/min compared to 1 l/
min flowrate. At 1.5 l/min, efficiency reached up to 0.81 for 0.3 wt%
and later dropped down to 0.69 when the fraction of nanoparticles
decreased to 0.2 wt%. At 1.5 l/min and 0.3 wt%, the change in effi-
ciency against reduced temperature parameter found by Zamzamian
et al. (2014) is presented in the Fig. 13.
Effect of energy absorbance and removed energy parameter on the
thermal efficiency (η) of the collector is computed by Eq. (5)
(Zamzamian et al., 2014).
Ti − Ta ⎞
η = FR (τα )n − FR UL ⎛
⎜ ⎟
⎝ Gt ⎠ (5)
“(τα )n ” shows normal transmittance-absorptance and “ ( Ti − Tamb
Gt )” is the
reduced temperature parameter. Whereas, “FR ” shows heat removal
factor, “UL ” represents overall loss coefficient of solar collector, “Gt ” is
for global solar radiation, “Ti ” is the inlet temperature and “Ta ” shows
ambient temperature.
Application of nanofluid as an absorbing fluid can help control the
values of entropy generation in flat plate collectors. Said et al. (2014)
numerically analyzed the performance of flat plate solar collector using
single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) based nanofluid as absorbing
fluid and they found 4.34% possible reduction in entropy generation as
well as 15.33% increment in the coefficient of heat transfer. Moghadam
et al. (2014) used CuO/H2O nanofluid of 0.4% volume fraction as ab-
sorbing fluid in flat plate solar collector and obtained 16.78% efficiency
enhancement compared to water-based system. They set the fluid to
flow at a flowrate ranging from 1 kg/min to 3 kg/min and found op-
timum performance at 1 kg/min. Michael and Iniyan (2015) found
optimum results at 0.05 vol% and 0.6 kg/min flowrate when using
CuO/H2O nanofluid as absorbing medium in a flat plate solar heater.
Expedition in flowrate and volume fraction of nanofluid has been
found to increase heat transfer coefficient, pumping power, and pres-
sure drop whereas, the exergy destruction gets reduced accordingly.
Said et al. (2015) and Faizal et al. (2015) also observed difference in
pumping power and pressure drop between nanofluid and basefluid.
Fig. 12. Performance of Nanofluid based PV/T Systems.
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

Use of nanofluids in volumetric solar collector is a special aspect of

nanofluids applications. Liu et al. (2018) analyzed the performance of
reduced graphene (rGO) based nanofluid in DASC for solar steam
generation. They observed remarkable enhancement in evaporation
rate leading to augmentation in efficiency of the system. The foremost
influential factor was reported to be the concentration of the nano-
particles. At low particle concentration, absorption was recorded to be
low and transmittance was high. High absorption resulted in high
evaporation/thermal efficiency and low heating efficiency of rGO based
DASC due to low penetration depth. They reported total efficiency of
nanofluid based system to be ∼66.0% and for water-based system it
was ∼36%. Thermal/evaporative efficiency of water was recorded
∼8% and for nanofluid the efficiency was recorded ∼41% at optimum
conditions. Thermal/evaporative efficiency of water was recorded
Fig. 13. Collector’s efficiency against reduced temperature parameter ∼8% and for nanofluid the efficiency was recorded ∼41.0% at op-
(Zamzamian et al., 2014). timum conditions. Wang et al. (2016) conducted similar performance
analysis of steam generation solar system employing CNT based nano-
fluid. They reported the thermal/evaporation efficiency for water-based
3.1.3. Direct absorption solar collectors (DASC)
and nanofluid system to be 7.8% and 46.8% respectively. Wang et al.
Direct absorption solar collectors were designed to forfeit the heat
(2017) conducted similar investigation with plasmonic Au nano-
losses occurring in the flat plate solar collectors. Therefore, special
particles suspended in basefluid. They reported the total efficiency (sum
characteristics of working fluid were required to meet so as to capture
of evaporative/thermal efficiency and heating efficiency) of the steam
as much solar energy as possible. Nanofluids have high light absorption
generation system to be 300% greater than the conventional fluid i.e.
or optical characteristics thus making them suitable to be used as ab-
water. Water based system was reported to reach 16% total efficiency
sorbing medium in direct absorption solar collectors (He et al., 2013;
whereas nanofluid based system approached 65% total efficiency.
Karami et al., 2016; Saidur et al., 2012). He et al. (2013) studied the
Highest efficiency was observed at 178 ppm concentration of Au na-
photothermal properties of Cu-H2O nanofluid – to be employed in the
noparticles. At this concentration, highest absorption performance has
direct absorption solar collectors as absorbing medium. Experimental
been depicted graphically (almost 3 cm−1 at ∼520 nm wavelength of
results revealed that transmittance of Cu-H2O nanofluid was very much
light). Thermal/evaporative efficiency of water was recorded ∼7.5%
less than the base fluid i.e. deionized water in the solar spectrum ran-
and for nanofluid the efficiency was recorded ∼47.5% at optimum
ging from 250 to 2500 nm wavelength. Following the results, they de-
conditions. Chen et al. (2017) also reported similar trends with over
duced that the solar absorption increased with increasing nanoparticle
65% maximum photothermal conversion efficiency of Au nanofluid
size, mass fraction, and optical depth. Temperature of nanofluid (0.1 wt
based volumetric solar collector. Nanofluid of silver presents good
%) was found to be 25.3 °C more than the basefluid at optimum con-
photothermal conversion characteristics as well. Silver nanofluid based
ditions. Karami et al. (2016) dispersed CuO nanoparticles in basefluid
DASC has been reported to approach 84.61% photothermal conversion
containing 70% distilled water and 30% ethylene glycol (EG), and
efficiency by Chen et al. (2015). They reported the efficiency of TiO2
tested its absorption in 200–2500 nm wavelength solar spectrum. They
and ZnO nanofluid based systems to reach up to a maximum of 51% and
found four times more absorption than the basefluid at 1 cm optical
64% respectively at optimum conditions. Chen et al. (2016) performed
depth of nanofluid and 0.01 vol% of dispersed nanoparticles of less than
numerical inspection of silver nanofluid performance in DASC and re-
40 nm diameter size. Saidur et al. (2012) reported almost alike findings
ported up to 90% photothermal efficiency of the system at optimum
as stated afore with slight deviation. They observed little impact of
concentration of nanoparticles.
particle size on the optical properties of aluminum based nanofluid.
Nanofluid became almost opaque to the solar light at 1.0 vol%.
Menbari et al. (2016) performed numerical as well as experimental
3.1.4. Evacuated tube solar collector (ETSC)
analysis of CuO/water nanofluid based concentrated direct absorption
Nanofluids have also been tested in evacuated tube solar collectors
parabolic trough solar collector. Their numerical and experimental
for the purpose of enhancing their performance. Sabiha et al. (2015)
analysis yielded close results that showed that the efficiency of the
dispersed single walled carbon nanotubes in water to form a nanofluid
system increased from 18% to 52% as the volume fraction of nano-
and used it as a working fluid in ETSC to analyze its performance under
particles increased from 0.002% to 0.008%. Temperature of the nano-
different volume fractions (0.005, 0.1, and 0.2 vol%) of nanoparticles
fluid increased along the receiver pipe’s length, indicating increased
and various flowrates (0.008, 0.017, and 0.025 kg/s) of nanofluid. Ex-
absorbance of solar irradiance. They found positive effect of increased
perimental results revealed that the performance of the system im-
flowrate of nanofluid through the receiver pipe since the heat losses
proved with abating flowrate and volume fractions. They obtained
contracted. Increased heat capturing causes increased entropy genera-
optimum results at maximum tested range of volume fractions and
tion as well that could be addressed by controlling several operation
flowrates i.e. 0.2 vol% and 0.025 kg/s. ETSCs can be used for the
parameters (Parvin et al., 2014). Gupta et al. (2015) observed optimal
heating of air for domestic use. One such system with compound
results at highest among the tested flowrates (1.5, 2, and 2.5 l/min) of
parabolic concentrator (CPC), evacuated tube and an open thermosy-
Al2O3/H2O nanofluid in DASC.
phon integrated into a single unit was designed for the heating of air by
Using nanofluids as heat transfer fluids in parabolic trough collec-
Liu et al. (2013). They used CuO/water nanofluid as working fluid and
tors helps them achieve reduced temperature gradient which shrinks
obtained a maximum of 170 °C temperature of air, flowing at 7.6 m3/h
the structural deformation. Increased heat removal dwindles thermal
during winter. They obtained way high temperature of air as well as
stresses in turns the life of the system is increased along with increased
efficiency (12.74%) by using open thermosyphon as compared to the
thermal efficiency of the system (Wang et al., 2016). Amount of ra-
concentric tube solar collector. Since open thermosyphon system had
diations being emitted are directly proportional to the fourth power of
annular tube inside the vapor box, it greatly increased the heat transfer
temperature of the heat transfer medium therefore maintaining high
area. Brief summary of augmentation in performance outputs of solar
flowrate of absorbing medium is necessary to halt the development of
energy systems based on mono-nanofluids is presented in Table 3.
thermal stresses in the system (Delfani et al., 2016).

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 T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali

Table 3
Summary of applications of mono-nanofluids in solar energy.
Reference Nanofluid Concentration Nanoparticle size System type Results

Sardarabadi et al. (2014) SiO2/H2O 3 wt% 11–14 nm diameter 40 W monocrystalline silicon PV Equivalent thermal efficiency of PV system without collector, water-based collector and 3 wt%
module SiO2/H2O based collector was reported 28.9%, 66.8%, and 72.1% respectively
Electrical efficiency of water-based PV-T collector and 3 wt% nanofluid based PV-T collector was
reported to increase by 8.2% and 9.75% respectively compared to reference PV system
Michael and Iniyan CuO/H2O 0.05 vol% 75 nm diameter 37 W PV Module Electrical efficiency decrement of water-based and nanofluid based PV-T system was reported
(2015) 28.73%, 31.18% respectively with glazing and 2.3%, 15.14% without glazing
Thermal efficiency increased by 44.90% and 45.76% with and without glazing respectively,
compared to water-based PV/T system
Ebaid et al. (2018) TiO2/H2O-poly-EG mixture 0.1 wt% N/A 50 W Monocrystalline PV Module On average, 0.82% and 0.48% more electrical efficiency of PV-T system based on nanofluid and
water is reported respectively than conventional PV system. Highest observed electrical
efficiency of conventional PV was 13.2% and of nanofluid based PV-T was 14%
Al-Waeli et al. (2017a) SiC/H2O 4 vol% 45–65 nm diameter 110 W Polycrystalline PV Module Electrical efficiency increased by 42% compared to water-based PV/T system
CuO/H2O 4 vol% 35–45 nm diameter 34% increment in electrical efficiency was observed
Al2O3/H2O 4 vol% 30–60 nm diameter 15.12% enhancement in electrical efficiency was obtained
Yousefi et al. (2012) Al2O3/H2O 0.2 wt% 15 nm particle dimension Flat plate solar collector 28.3% efficiency enhancement was achieved compared to water-based system
Zamzamian et al. (2014) Cu/EG 0.3 wt% 10 nm average diameter Flat plate solar collector Collector efficiency reached up to 81% for nanofluid and for water it reached up to 50%. Overall,
60% enhancement was observed owing to the insertion of nanoparticles in base fluid
Said et al. (2014) SWCNT/H2O N/A N/A Flat plate solar collector Entropy generation in the system reduced by 4.34% and coefficient of heat transfer increased by
15.33% compared to water

184
Moghadam et al. (2014) CuO/H2O 0.4 vol% 40 nm particle dimension Flat plate solar collector 21.8% efficiency enhancement occurred for nanofluid based system compared to water-based
collector
Michael and Iniyan CuO/H2O 0.05 vol% 0.3–0.21 nm average Flat plate solar collector Collector’s efficiency approached to a maximum 52.33% with water and it approached 57.98%
(2015) crystalline size with nanofluid
Said et al. (2015) TiO2/H2O 0.1 vol% 21 nm average size Flat plate solar collector Maximum energy efficiency of the water-based and nanofluid based collector reached up to
42.1% and 76.6% respectively. Nanoparticles increased the collector’s efficiency by 81%
Exergy efficiency of system improved up to 16.9% at 0.5 kg/min flowrate
Shojaeizadeh et al. Al2O3/H2O 0.14 vol% 15 nm average diameter Flat plate solar collector A maximum of 1% exergy efficiency enhancement occurred due to the dispersion of
(2015) nanoparticles in the basefluid
Menbari et al. (2016) CuO/H2O 0.008 vol% 100 nm nominal size Concentrated parabolic trough Thermal efficiency reached up to 52%
DASC
Gupta et al. (2015) Al2O3/H2O 0.005 vol% 20 nm DASC At optimum flowrates water-based collector’s efficiency approached to ∼54% and nanofluid
based system’s efficiency approached to ∼74%
Delfani et al. (2016) SWCNT/H2O + EG 0.1 vol% 10–20 nm diameter DASC At 90 lit/h flowrate, 29% more efficiency of the collector was predicted when using nanofluid
than the basefluid. Nanofluid based collector surpassed 70% efficiency mark
Sabiha et al. (2015) SWCNT/H2O 0.2 vol% 1–2 nm average diameter ETSC 93.53% maximum efficiency of the system was found at 0.025 kg/s flowrate and at the same
flowrate water-based collector’s efficiency reached up to 54.37%
Liu et al. (2013) CuO/H2O 1.2 wt% 50 nm average diameter CPC-ETSC Nanofluid based evacuated tube collector coupled with a thermosyphon approached optimum
efficiency (56%). This system was reported 12.74% more efficient on average than the ETSC
coupled with annular tube collector
A maximum of 170 °C air temperature was obtained in case of solar collector joined with open
thermosyphon using nanofluid as working fluid in thermosyphon
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
3.2. Applications of hybrid nanofluids in solar energy
Hybrid nanofluids–advanced class of nanofluids engineered by
blending two kinds of nanoparticles–possess appealing thermal and
optical characteristics. Realizing the broad potential of hybrid nano-
fluids, researchers have conducted extensive experimental as well as
numeric evaluation of their performance in variety of systems. In par-
ticular, hybrid nanofluids have been reported to manifest captivating
results in solar energy systems i.e. PV-T systems, solar collectors, and
solar energy storage systems (Verma et al., 2018). Plasmonic nature of
nanoparticles in a hybrid nanofluids could be exploited to hoist the
solar conversion rate by tuning the absorption peaks along short to long
wavelength range of solar irradiation. Li et al. (2017) synthesized core
and shell Au-TiO2 nanoparticles based nanofluid and observed sig-
nificant solar absorption tunability between 414 and 499 nm wave-
length. Owing to aforementioned reason, Han et al. (2019) observed
highest merit function (MF) of hybrid nanofluid (Ag-CoSO4/water)
based PV-T system as compared to Ag/water unitary nanofluid and
conventional fluid i.e. water. Huang et al. (2017) reported greater
evaporation rate by core and shell Au-TiO2 nanofluid as compared to
TiO2 nanofluid and water in a solar desalination experiment. Core and
shell nanoparticle based nanofluid depicted high absorption peaks in
ultraviolet and visible spectrum of light which promoted photocatalysis
and photothermal reaction. Photocatalysis action can be over-
whelmingly improved by the used of core and shell Fe3O4-TiO2 hybrid
nanofluid as demonstrated by Shi et al. (2017). They observed the
hybrid nanofluid to have higher separation rate than water and mono
nanofluid of Fe3O4.
Thermal conductivity and Nusselt number are the two very im-
portant parameters in a solar energy system that significantly influence
the performance. Insertion of hybrid nanoparticles in the conventional
working fluids (water and ethylene glycol) greatly elevates the values of
both the aforementioned parameters.
Shahsavar et al. (2016) appraised the thermal conductivity en-
hancement of CNT-Fe3O4/H2O hybrid nanofluid compared to basefluid
and observed 152.95% augmentation. Similarly, Hemmat Esfe et al.
(2017), Afrand (2017), Sarbolookzadeh Harandi et al. (2016), Esfahani
et al. (2018), Toghraie et al. (2016), Leong et al. (2018), Abbasi et al.
(2013), Akilu et al. (2017), Esfe et al. (2017), Rostamian et al. (2017),
Devarajan et al. (2018), Hamid et al. (2017), Van Trinh et al. (2018),
Akhgar and Toghraie (2018), Moldoveanu et al. (2018), and Kakavandi
and Akbari (2018) reported extraordinary thermal conductivity esca-
lation as shown in Fig. 14. Considering the figure, highest thermal
conductivity enhancements are observed in the case of hybrid nano-
fluids that contain carbon nanotubes. CNTs have high thermal
Fig. 14. Thermal conductivity enhancement of hybrid-nanofluids compared to basefluid.
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conductivity because of large specific surface area that poses high heat
transfer rate. Furthermore, detailed physical mechanism of thermal
conductivity expedition in hybrid nanofluids has been explained in a
review study by Das (2017).
Convective heat transfer of hybrid nanofluids has also been ob-
served to be very high which eventually increases the Nusselt number
in a system. Adriana (2017) carried out numerical evaluation and ob-
served 257% escalation in coefficient of convective heat transfer and
241% increase in Nusselt number of a hybrid nanofluid (2.5%
Al2O3 + 1.5% SiO2/H2O) compared to base fluid. Besides, Yarmand
et al. (2015); Syam Sundar et al. (2016), Sundar et al. (2014),
Moghadassi et al. (2015), Yarmand et al. (2017), Madhesh et al. (2014),
Madhesh and Kalaiselvam (2014), Takabi et al. (2016), and Suresh
et al. (2012) have reported good improvement in Nusselt number as
compared to base fluid (shown in Fig. 15).
Hybrid nanofluids - along with good thermal characteristics - pose
some rheological challenges as well such as escalated viscosity, high
pumping power, increased frictional losses, and enhanced pressure
drop. However, advantages are greater than the challenges.
3.2.1. PV-thermal systems
Silicon based photovoltaic modules are capable to directly convert
solar energy into electricity. These modules can absorb up to 80% of
solar radiations striking their surface but only small fraction of this
energy is converted into electricity and rest of the energy turns into
heat that in turns reduces the cell efficiency and module’s life (Shukla
et al., 2017). Due to the operational limitations, PV modules can only
yield as much as 15% electrical efficiency and this efficiency further
drops down as the module temperature arises (Soltani et al., 2017). As
the module’s temperature exceeds 25 °C the efficiency tends to drop by
0.5% with every 1 °C expedition (Oruc et al., 2016). Many cooling
methodologies of the PV modules in order to impede the temperature
elevation have been described in the literature that are reported to have
accomplished massive escalation in conversion efficiency of these
modules (Hussein, 2016; Hasanuzzaman et al., 2016). Cooling the PV
module’s surface via mono-nanofluid can reduce the temperature up to
30 °C and increase the electrical efficiency up to 28% (Al-Waeli et al.,
2017b, 2017c; Sardarabadi et al., 2017). Application of hybrid/binary
nanofluids for cooling of PV modules can further enhance the electrical
efficiency considerably.
Younis et al. (2018) inspected the effect of Al2O3-ZnO/water na-
nofluid both experimentally and computationally on PV/T efficiency.
They dispersed 0.5 wt% of Al2O3 and 0.5 wt% of ZnO in water and used
Ethylene-Glycol as surfactant. Pertaining to the conclusive results, the
increment in overall energy and exergy efficiency was found to be 4.1%
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Fig. 15. Nusselt number enhancement of hybrid nanofluids compared to base fluid.
and 4.6% respectively. Sathieshkumar (2018) employed Cu-TiO2-water
nanofluid at different flowrates (0.01, 0.02, 0.03 kg/s) and observed
optimal results at 0.02 kg/s. Following the results, electrical efficiency
was obtained to be 11.309%, 12.4248% and 12.873% for uncooled
system, water-based system and nanofluid-based PV/T system respec-
tively. Whereas, thermal efficiency was found to be 18.4319% and
19.5089% for water-based and nanofluid-based PV/T system respec-
tively. Al-Waeli et al. (2017b) used nano-SiC and nano-PCM based
nanofluid to remove the heat of PV module and they used 0.175 kg/s
flowrate and 0.1% mass fraction of SiC, they reported that the electrical
efficiency of PV module was found to be 7.11% when not cooled but the
efficiency elevated up to 9.92%, 12.32% and 13.70% when the mod-
ule’s heat was removed by water, PCM and PCM + SiC-water nanofluid
respectively. Similarly, the thermal efficiency was found to be 9.51%,
10.5% and 13.8% in case of water-based, PCM based and PCM + SiC-
water based PV/T system. Hjerrild et al. (2016) filtered the solar ra-
diations by flowing Ag-SiO2 -CNT/water fluid in front of PV surface,
flowing fluid absorbed the unwanted part of radiation which elevated
the overall performance efficiency of the PV system. Core and shell Ag-
SiO2 nanoparticles absorbed the visible portion and CNT absorbed the
UV part of radiations. Electrical efficiency was found to increase by
85% as compared to unfiltered PV system when the water was used as
working fluid. Ag-SiO2 (0.001 wt%) based nanofluid elevated the
electrical efficiency by 73% as compared to unfiltered PV system. More
dilute solution yielded more electrical efficiency but the concentrated
fluids extensively absorbed radiations which resulted in lowering of
electrical efficiency whereas, the thermal efficiency was found to in-
crease. Assuming the worth factor 3 (w = 3), Ag-SiO2 based fluid with
highest concentration of 0.0126 wt% resulted in highest optical effi-
ciency of 58% and 39% increase in market value compared to unfiltered
PV module. Second best performance was observed for Ag-SiO2-CNT
having 0.006 and 0.067 wt% respectively which resulted in 51% optical
efficiency and 34% increase in market value. They also observed that
CNT based nanofluids resulted in higher merit function as compared to
the water based nanofluids containing no carbon nano-tubes. However,
the anomalous augmentation in the performance parameters was at-
tributed to the beam splitting properties of core and shell Ag-SiO2 na-
noparticles. Merit factor is expressed as (Crisostomo et al., 2015);
w ∗ Ppv + Pth
MF =
w ∗ Ppv ,nofilter (6)
Crisostomo et al. (2017) used core-shell Ag-SiO2 nanoparticle based
nanofluid as selective absorption media for optimum performance of
PV/T system. Increase in concentration of nanoparticles increased
thermal power output but decreased electrical power output. Overall
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efficiency increased from 12.4% (for stand-alone system) to 33.2% (for
0.025 wt%, Ag-SiO2-H2O nanofluid based system) due to the applica-
tion of nanofluid of optimized optical properties that eventually lead to
maximal efficiency. Sai and Sharma (2015) used GO (graphene oxide)-
TiO2 nanocomposite for PV surface coating and observed elevated
conversion efficiency of multi crystalline silicon cells as compared to
uncoated PV cells due to the optimum photo-electromechanical features
of nanocomposite. Optimal properties of nanocomposite decreased the
reflectance of solar radiations in turns increasing the photo-conversion
of coated PV cells.
3.2.2. Solar collectors
Solar collectors are extensively used for photothermal conversion.
Solar radiations are absorbed by the working fluid and converted into
thermal energy (Fig. 16). Performance of solar collectors is subject to
optical characteristics of working fluid. Optical performance of working
fluid is studied in terms of extinction coefficient, absorptivity, trans-
mittivity, scattering coefficient, solar weighted absorption, etc. These
factors have direct impact on the efficiency and output of solar col-
lectors. Efficiency of solar collectors is calculated by the following
equation (Fang and Xuan, 2017).
mcp (Ts − Ti )
η=
AG∆t (7)
Conventional working fluids converted only specific part of solar
radiations into thermal energy because of their limited absorption
range. As shown in Fig. 17, water depicts strong absorption in ultra-
violet region but limited absorption in infrared and visible region.
Mono-nanofluids extended the absorption range from UV region to ei-
ther IR or visible region; leaving the room for further improvement.
Advanced hybrid nanofluids containing two type of nanoparticles were
then employed and they depicted uniform absorption through all the
solar spectrums. Du and Tang (2016) conducted numerical study of
unique blended nanofluid containing three different shapes (i.e. 20%
nano-ellipsoid of aspect ratio 2, 60% nanorod of AR = 5 and 20% na-
nosheet of l/h = 7) of gold. Owing to plasmonic resonance band, ex-
tending from visible to near infrared region, blended plasmon nanofluid
absorbed 82.3% portion of incident radiation whereas the mono-na-
nofluid composed of spherical gold nanoparticles could absorb only
40.5% incident radiation. Farajzadeh et al. (2018) tested mono as well
and hybrid nanofluid of Al2O3 (20 nm and 0.1 wt%) and TiO2 (15 nm
and 0.1 wt%) nanoparticles dispersed in deionized water. Experimental
results revealed 19%, 21% and 26% augmentation in thermal efficiency
in case of Al2O3 nanofluid, TiO2 nanofluid and Al2O3-TiO2/H2O nano-
fluid respectively. Nanofluids were observed to be stable even after
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Fig. 16. Schematic of solar energy conversion systems: (a) PV/T (Sardarabadi et al., 2014), (b) DASC (Qin et al., 2017), (C) VSC (He et al., 2013).
30 days.
Hybrid nanofluids not only possess prolonged absorption range but
they also possess good thermal characteristics. Almost 90% research
results indicate that, hybrid nanofluids have improved thermophysical
properties as compared to their nanofluids of individual constituents
(Hamzah et al., 2017). Due to this reason, binary nanofluids are of
much importance for improving the performance of solar systems.
Bellos and Tzivanidis (2018) numerically compared the performance of
mono as well as hybrid nanofluid in parabolic trough solar collector. At
3.0 vol% concentration and 2300 Re, Al2O3/Oil and TiO2/Oil mono
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nanofluids improved the efficiency of parabolic trough collector by
0.7% and 0.7% each. Whereas, hybrid nanofluid of TiO2 and Al2O3
nanoparticles improved the efficiency by 1.8%. Mehrali et al. (2018)
prepared hybrid nanofluid of silver decorated reduced graphene oxide
nanosheets dispersed in deionized water. Aforementioned hybrid na-
nofluid was reported to be stable for 7 days and only 16% sedimenta-
tion occurred after 1000 h. DASC based on aforementioned fluid
yielded about 77% efficiency.
Shende and Sundara (2015) tested nitrogen doped hybrid structure
of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
Fig. 17. Absorption coefficient of pure water (Du and Tang, 2016).
(MWCNT) as working fluid in direct absorption solar collector. They
observed 17.7% increase in thermal conductivity at 0.02 vol% in
deionized water and 15.1% in 0.03 vol% ethylene glycol base fluid.
They found binary nanofluids to be more stable than the unitary na-
nofluids. They observed greater optical absorbance with elevating
concentration of nanoparticles, whereas, thermal transmittance de-
creased. Zeng and Xuan (2018) experimentally examined the absorp-
tivity, thermal conductivity and thermal conversion variation of hybrid
nanofluid (MWCNT, SiO2/Ag and deionized water with 0.1 vol%) as
compared to the unitary nanofluids (MWCNT/DI-water and SiO2/Ag
and deionized water) with varying time, temperature and volume
fraction. When exposed to solar irradiation for one hour, temperature of
MWCNT nanofluid, SiO2-Ag nanofluid and MWCNT-SiO2-Ag blended
nanofluid reached 59.3 °C, 56.6 °C, and 63.3 °C at 0.1 vol% respectively.
Highest thermal conversion efficiency in case of hybrid nanofluid was
reported 97.6% at 35 59.3 °C but then it dropped down to 42.7% at
70 °C. Greatest thermal efficiency of MWCNT mono-nanofluid was re-
ported 96% and for SiO2-Ag nanofluid it was 91% at 35 °C. Insertion of
SiO2/Ag nanoparticles reduced the thermal conductivity slightly, but
the solar absorptivity got increased. Lee et al. (2012) presented con-
ceptual study based on the application of Monte Carlo numerical
method and finite element analysis method to test the performance of
blended nanofluid containing four different sizes of core and shell na-
noparticles made up of silver (core) and gold (shell) dispersed in water
for DASC. Their results showed that optimum range of volume fraction
was 0.02–1.0% where efficiency of the solar system increased up to
70%. Further increase in concentration decreased the efficiency esca-
lation. Chen et al. (2017) prepared bimetallic and blended nanofluid
solution of Au and Ag nanoparticles dispersed in water. Pertaining to
experimental results, bimetallic nanofluid solution depicted 41.37%
photothermal conversion efficiency whereas, blended nanofluid
showed 31.41% photothermal efficiency. Absorbance of the bimetallic
nanofluid solution was observed to be much higher than the blended
nanofluid therefore, equilibrium temperature of bimetallic nanofluid
was observed to be 59.32 ± 0.22 °C and for the blended nanofluid it
was 54.59 ± 0.40 °C whereas for the waster it was 39.66 ± 0.42 °C.
Carrillo-Torres et al. (2016) prepared bimetallic nanofluid of Au and Ag
nanoparticle. They reported good photo-thermal properties when the
prepared solution was exposed to 808 nm laser light. Improved ex-
tinction properties caused 20 °C temperature increase within 15 min
after the solution was irradiated. Wang et al. (2018) proposed hybrid
nanofluid of hedgehog hierarchical structure ZnO and spherical Au
nanoparticles dispersed in silicon oil, following the concept presented
by Bahng et al. (2015) who prepared hedgehog particles having
anomalous dispersion and stability. Au NP’s showed absorption peak at
520 nm wavelength of solar radiation (while ZnO had absorption peak
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in ultraviolet region) and depicted an equilibrium temperature of
∼120 °C. Solution remained stable for considerable period of time and
established 240% higher efficiency of DASC as compared to based fluid
based DASC system. Chen et al. (2016) performed both experimental
and theoretical modeling analysis of heat dissipation to calculate the
photothermal conversion efficiency of mono as well as binary nanofluid
of Au and Ag dispersed in water. Experimental results depicted that, the
solution of Au-Ag/water nanofluid yielded 30.97% photothermal con-
version efficiency which was almost equal to arithmetic sum of mono-
nanofluids of Au and Ag (19.01% and 11.90% respectively). Increasing
volume fraction of nanoparticles increased the efficiency however,
nanofluid of smaller concentration yielded higher surface absorption
rate (SAR). Xuan et al. (2014) prepared TiO2-Ag/DI-water based hybrid
nanofluid. Experimental investigation depicted that, the optimal results
were obtained when the radius (R) of the TiO2 was kept 30 nm and
TiO2/Ag was kept R1/R2 = 20/30 nm. TiO2 solely absorbed 57.89 W/
m2 of solar energy, Ag solely absorbed 390.88 W/m2 of solar energy
owing to the plasmonic resonance effect induced on the silver particles
and TiO2-Ag/DI water absorbed 484.91 W/m2 of solar energy. Photo-
thermal efficiency was found to be 16.07% for TiO2, 20.86% for Ag,
20.9% TiO2-Ag/DI and 15.52% when deionized water was used solely.
They mentioned that albeit silver-based mono-nanofluid and TiO2-Ag
based binary nanofluid yielded same photothermal efficiency, but
procurement cost of TiO2-Ag nanoparticles is lower than the TiO2 na-
noparticles to produce nanofluid of same extent. Lenert and Wang
(2012) conducted experiments and performed modeling investigation
of application of nanofluid (contained carbon coated cobalt (28 nm)
nanoparticles) in cylindrical volumetric collector. They predicted over
35% efficiency if their system was integrated with a power cycle.
System efficiency increased with fluid height.
The results of above discussed studies imply that solar efficiency is
not only affected by absorption range of working fluid, but it also de-
pends on the transmittance of the fluid as well. Another phenomenon
which is to be discussed along with absorbance and transmittance is the
scattering. Normally the effect of scattering is overlooked but if it is
manipulated well enough with the absorption, scattering impinges
positive influence on the solar efficiency. It is to be noticed that scat-
tering effects become significant in plasmonic nanofluid if the nano-
particle size is above 40 nm whereas, scatter causes no significant ef-
fects if the nanoparticle size is lesser than 16 nm (Liu et al., 2015).
Spectral absorption of the base fluid is calculated by Eq. (8) (Du and
Tang, 2016).
4πk
K α·f = (m−1)
λ (8)
Here, “K α·f ” represents the coefficient of spectral absorption of base
fluid and “k” depicts base fluid’s absorption index.
Mie theory helps for modeling and analyzing the optical properties
(absorption, scattering and extinction coefficient) of nanoparticles in
base fluid, exposed to solar radiations. This theory is limited to ana-
lyzing mono-nanofluid i.e. single type of nanoparticles dispersed in bae
fluid. Menbari and Alemrajabi (2016) developed a model for analyti-
cally examining binary nanofluid. Experimentally obtained results
converged with the theoretically calculated results. Experimental and
analytical results depicted an increment in extinction coefficient of
γ -Al2O3-CuO-Water/EG/EG-water binary nanofluid with increasing
concentration. Both experimental and analytical results showed that the
extinction coefficient reaches its maximal value in UV region and then
goes on decreasing with the wavelength. Water based binary nanofluid
was found to have higher extinction coefficient as compared to the rest
of the binary nanofluid based on EG or EG-Water base fluid. However,
the extinction coefficients of all the binary nanofluids (having different
base fluid) converged at higher wavelength (about 800 nm). Menbari
et al. (2016) investigated viscosity, extinction coefficient and stability
of γ -Al2O3-CuO-Water binary nanofluid. Rheological and optical prop-
erties of binary nanofluids were found to be improved with increasing
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203

nanoparticle concentration. Optimum value of pH, mass concentration percentage i.e. %), “Gλ ” is spectral irradiance (W/m2), “− K eλ . fluid ” is
of surfactant and sonication time for binary nanofluid was found to be called spectral extinction coefficient or attenuation coefficient of fluid is
7.5–8.5, 1.25 and 100–120 min respectively. They observed that the the sum of absorption coefficient and spectral coefficient of the fluid
magnitude of extinction coefficient of binary nanofluid is almost equal (m−1), and “y” is penetration depth (m). To evaluate the value of
to the sum of individual component’s based nanofluid’s extinction “− K eλ . fluid ”, following equation is used.
coefficients.
τλ = e−K eλ . fluid . y (%) (10)
Another term used to evaluate the solar efficiency of the collectors is
the extinction coefficient of the working fluid. Extinction coefficient where “τλ ” is the representation of transmittance of fluid and “e” is the
simply indicates the strength of light absorption and scattering by na- depiction of extinction. This equation is known as Beer Lambert Law.
noparticles. Solar efficiency linearly varies with a change in its value. Chen et al. (2017) prepared a broad band solar absorption hybrid
Jeon et al. (2014) conducted experimental study and concluded that nanofluid by blending CuO and ATO (antimony doped tin oxide) na-
blended plasmonic nanofluid containing 0.0001% nanoparticle of gold noparticles in water. Since CuO/water nanofluid had strong absorption
with different aspect ratios depicted increased extinction coefficient in visible region and ATO/water nanofluid in near infrared region,
(1.77 cm1) in visible region. Plasmonic nanoparticles in a nanofluid are binary nanofluid of these two nanoparticles displayed broad band ab-
capable to absorb solar radiation greater than their surface area. Ra- sorption in both visible and near infrared region. Owing to augmented
diations get thermalized and they emit bulk quantity of heat to the absorption, solar weighted absorption fraction of binary nanofluid was
medium thus increasing the temperature of medium which leads to found to be 99.6% and for the individual nanofluids of CuO and ATO
efficiency improvement of DASC. Nanoparticles of specific geometry solar weighted absorption fraction was found to be 89.5% and 89.8%
have specific extinction coefficients, blending nanoparticles of various respectively. Whereas, solar thermal utilization efficiency was found to
sizes and shapes can broader the extinction coefficient along the wa- be 92.5% for blended nanofluid and 81.3% and 80.7% for CuO and ATO
velength of solar radiations (as shown in Fig. 18) which eventually nanofluids respectively. Solar scattering was assumed to be negligible
elevates the solar system’s performance. due to small size of nanoparticles. At the described working conditions,
Won and Lee (2018) numerically tested the relative effect of scat- only 3% transmittivity was observed at wavelengths between 300 nm
tering and absorption of radiation on the performance of blended and 1400 nm. Penetration depth was reported to display prominent
plasmonic nanofluid based DASC. The results obtained by the Monte
Carlo numerical method suggested that the scattering increased the
mean optical path length leading to increased absorption as well as
collector efficiency. Heat losses could also be repealed via increasing
scattering coefficient because it towers the Am (solar weighted ab-
sorption coefficient). Menbari et al. (2016) experimentally investigated
the stability and extinction coefficient of Al2O3-CuO binary nano-
particles, dispersed in EG and EG-water mixture base fluids. Pertaining
to the results, they observed extinction coefficient of binary nanofluid
to be equal to the summation of extinction coefficients of individual
nanoparticles. Optical properties varied linearly with varying nano-
particle concentration. Extinction coefficients of nanoparticles were
found to be greater when dispersed in ethylene glycol water base fluid
as compared to ethylene glycol solely working as based fluid. Menbari
et al. (2017) prepared a binary nanofluid (CuO-Al2O3/water or EG-
water). They employed this nanofluid in direct absorbing solar para-
bolic trough collector (DASPTC). CuO nanoparticles have good thermal
conductivity and absorbance whereas Al2O3 nanoparticles have good
scattering and heat capacity properties. A blend of these two nano-
particles presented good results and maximal efficiency of DASPTC was
found to be 48.03% at 0.2 vol% Al2O3–0.008 vol% CuO/Water.
Solar conversion performance of collectors can be measured in
terms of solar weighted absorption as well. The magnitude of solar
weighted absorption depends on the nanoparticle specifications (i.e.
size, shape, and crystal shape) as well as collector geometry (depth and
length of the channel). Bhalla et al. (2018) investigated the perfor-
mance characteristics of hybrid nanofluid based DASC as compared to
surface based absorption system (SAS). Pertaining to experimental re-
sults, deionized water solely working as absorption media could absorb
only 20% of incident radiation at 10 mm penetration depth, whereas,
blended nanofluid based absorption system absorbed 80% of incident
radiations for 20 mm penetration depth. Binary nanofluid based sys-
tem’s absorbed greater amount of incident radiations which caused
5.4 °C higher temperature elevation DASC as compared SAS since the
working fluid does not directly interact with solar radiations. Solar
weighted absorption can be calculated by Eq. (9) (Bhalla et al., 2018).
λ
∫0 Gλ (1 − e−Keλ .fluid. y ) dλ
Sm = λ
∫0 Gλ dλ (9)

where “Sm ” stands for solar weighted absorptivity of host fluid (it is a Fig. 18. Extinction coefficient of (a) single type nanoparticle based nanofluid
unitless quantity however it is sometimes described in the form of and, (b) blended plasmonic nanofluid (Jeon et al., 2016).

189
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
deviation in the performance results. If the penetration depth was ad-
justed 3 cm for CuO/water nanofluid and 5 cm for ATO/water nano-
fluid, both would have yielded 99% solar weighted absorption. But it
required only 1 cm for the hybrid nanofluid to yield 99.6% penetration
depth. Reduced penetration depth simply reduces the system geometry
and the manufacturing cost.
Geometry of system and nanoparticles also affect the solar perfor-
mance of the system. Chen et al. (2016) experimentally tested the effect
of nanoparticle size and the shape of the solar collector on the photo-
thermal efficiency. Following the experimental results, increasing size
of the nanoparticles reduced photo-thermal conversion efficiency and
collector efficiency. Likewise, flat plate DASC manifested higher ra-
diation/heat losses as compared to the cube shaped DASC thus leading
to smaller photo-thermal efficiency. This was due to the fact that cube
shaped collector had longer optical path as compared to the flat col-
lector which subsequently elevated the solar radiation absorption. In-
creased size of nanoparticles enhanced thermal conductivity and
thermal losses. Effect of particle size was observed to be smaller on cube
shaped solar collector as compared to the flat plate solar collector. Si-
milar results have also been shown by Liu et al. (2015), they concluded
from both experimental and analytical model results that, increased
height of the solar receiver (DASC) and the solar concentration in-
creased the collector efficiency. Conversely, increasing concentration of
nanoparticles (in graphene/ionic liquid nanofluid) reduced the receiver
efficiency. Rativa and Gómez-Malagón (2015) theoretically calculated
Am of plasmonic nanofluid containing gold and silver with different AR
and they found that, maximal value of Am could be achieved if optimal
geometry of nanoparticles, volume fraction and nanofluid thickness
were used. Jeon et al. (2016) prepared blended nanofluid containing
gold nanorods of three different AR (i.e. length to diameter ratio: 1.77,
2.73 and 4.17 with 16 nm average diameter) dispersed in CTAB to be
used in flat plate VSC. They tested the effects of channel depth, channel
length and mass flowrate of nanofluid on energy conversion efficiency
of solar collector. Experimental results showed that increasing mass
flowrate resulted in increased temperature gain as well as energy con-
version efficiency (from 0.003 kg/s to 0.005 kg/s). Increase in channel
depth also resulted in temperature and efficiency increment owing to
velocity elevation. Noticeably, the temperature gain increased but the
efficiency decreased with increasing channel length, since η ∝ ΔT / L ,
increase in length was greater than the increment in temperature gain.
A similar study was conducted by Qin et al. (2017), they theoretically
analyzed the effects of varying depth and length of channel, mass
flowrate, and absorption coefficient of plasmonic nanofluids on solar
system’s performance. Low absorption of solar radiations results in
lower collector efficiency that can be enhanced by increasing the mean
path length of solar radiations. It can be achieved either by increasing
the channel height or scattering. At optimum conditions, they estimated
as much as 75.5% conversion efficiency of DASC.
Successful operation of solar collectors is subject to efficient con-
version of solar radiations into thermal energy and more importantly
the transportation of this energy. Proficient transportation solely de-
pends on the thermal transportation characteristics of working fluid
and its flowrate. Akilu and Baheta (2018) experimentally analyzed the
parameters that influence the solar energy transport ability of SiO2-
CuO/C/EG-glycol hybrid nanofluid at volume concentration ranging
from 0.5 to 2.0% and temperature ranging from 303.15 to 353.15 K.
Experimental results depicted that the heat capacity of the prepared
nanofluid decreased with increasing concentration of nanoparticles in
the base fluid and increased with increasing temperature. They found
that heat capacity decreased as much as 5.7% and 21.1% at 2.0% vo-
lume concentration single component SiO2 and SiO2-CuO/C binary
nanofluids respectively at 303.15 K. They attributed the pronounced
heat capacity decrement of hybrid nanofluid to the nanolayering affect.
Increment in thermal conductivity was found to be 6.9% and 26.9% for
single component SiO2 and SiO2-CuO/C binary nanofluids respectively
at 2.0% volume concentration and 353.15 K. Viscosity reduction was
190
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
observed to be 4.9% and 33.5% for single-component SiO2 and SiO2-
CuO/C binary nanofluids respectively at 2.0% volume concentration.
Fang and Xuan (2017) performed experiments to observe thermo-
physical and optical properties of binary nanofluid of CuO-ZnO/water.
They prepared three different solutions: CuO/water mono-nanofluid,
CuO-ZnO/water with 0.7:0.3 stochiometric ratio and CuO-ZnO/water
with 0.5:0.5 stochiometric ratio. They varied the nanoparticle volume
fraction from 0.001% to 0.01% and observed optimal performance at
0.01% volume fraction. Increasing volume fraction increased the pho-
tothermal conversion efficiency. Optimal results were observed at
0.7:0.3 stochiometric ratio of binary nanofluid. Increasing temperature
decreased the efficiency, increasing stochiometric ratio decreased solar
weighted absorptivity. Anomalous performance was attributed to
loosen structure and small particle size. Pertaining to experimental
results, CuO-ZnO/water with 30% ZnO displays best performance with
97.35% photothermal conversion efficiency and 72.649 °C maximum
temperature attained (highest among the rest of fluids). Concentration
increase from 0.1 to 0.2 wt% resulted 3–5% efficiency enhancement.
Amongst the three tested flowrates (1.5 l/min, 2.0 l/min and 2.5 l/min)
8% and 5% efficiency increment was observed for 2.0 l/min and 2.5 l/
min flowrates as compared to 1.5 l/min flowrate. In VSC, the photo-
thermal efficiency has been observed to be highest at the initial ac-
quisition point and then it declines with increasing temperature of the
hybrid nanofluid as shown in Fig. 19. Yu and Xuan (2018) also ex-
amined the performance OF VSC using CuO and Ag based hybrid na-
nofluid. Pertaining to the experimental results, maximum photo-
thermal conversion efficiency was found to be 96.11% and 39.58% at
35 °C and 60 °C respectively. Decline in efficiency is due to increasing
convective heat losses. These heat losses could be repealed by coloring
the collector surface so as to overcome radiative and convective dis-
sipation. Khashan et al. (2017) used 10 ml Fe3O4-SiO2/H2O nanofluid
and 20 ml of kerosene oil contained in solar collector having black
colored bottom and obtained greater performance compared to a solar
receiver containing nanofluid only. They obtained better performance
of collector when using 1 mg/1 ml of nanoparticles compared to 2 mg/
1 ml concentration.
Storage of photothermal energy is the critical concern. Hybrid na-
nofluids have also been used for the cause of energy storage. Shin and
Banerjee (2015) prepared nanocomposite by blending nanoparticles of
SiO2 of ∼10–30 nm diameter with eutectic of lithium carbonate and
potassium carbonate (62:38 molar ratio) at 1 wt% concentration via
two step method, to be used in thermal energy storage system (TSE) of
concentrated solar power (CSP) applications. They observed pro-
nounced enhancement in the properties (thermal conductivity, heat
capacity and thermal diffusivity) of nanocomposite as compared to the
pure eutectic. An increment of 5–15%, 25–28% and 37–47% in specific
heat, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity respectively was
observed. These improvements were attributed to percolations (inter-
connected nanostructures) formed in the eutectic mixture, when
Photothermal Conversion EĸĐienĐLJ (%)
95
85
75
65
55 CuO/Water NanoŇuid
45 CuO-ZnO/Water
NanoŇuid (0.7:0.3)
35
CuO-ZnO/Water
NanoŇuid (0.50:0.5)
25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Temperature (϶C)
Fig. 19. Effect of temperature on photothermal efficiency of photothermal
conversion collector (using the data of Fang and Xuan (2017)).
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali
combined with the nanoparticles.
Phase change materials (PCM) possess rich energy storage char-
acteristics. Therefore, PCMs containing hybrid nanofluids have been
used by several researchers to ensure maximum energy storage.
Chandran et al. (2017) used ZnO (30–45 nm) and encapsulated paraffin
wax (320–560 nm) and propylene glycol-water to prepared a hybrid
nanofluid. They experimentally examined the effect of concentration of
paraffin wax (4–16 wt%) and the concentration of ZnO (0–2%). Ex-
perimental results revealed that the thermal conductivity and heat ca-
pacity of hybrid nanofluid at optimal concentration could be elevated to
a maximum of 10.4% and 18.7% respectively as compared to the pro-
pylene glycol-water mixture (used as base fluid in the current study).
Maximum enhancement in the heat transfer coefficient of thermic fluid
was found to be 13.4% at the same concentration that resulted 18.65%
increment in the specific heat. The authors concluded that the optimum
concentration of paraffin wax was to be 10 wt% and of ZnO was to be
2 vol%. Aforementioned concentration yielded 3.5% elevation in
thermal conductivity and 5.1% increment in specific heat that lead to
15.35% improvement in overall heat transfer coefficient. Harikrishnan
et al. (2014) tested hybrid nanocomposite having CuO and TiO2 dis-
persed in paraffin to be used as phase change material. According to
experimental results, they found 1.0 m.% of hybrid nanocomposite in
base material to be optimum concentration among 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and
1.0 m.%. SEM images displayed rod shape of CuO and sphere shape of
TiO2 nanoparticles with average size of 21 nm of nanoparticles in the
base matter. Rod like shape of CuO nanoparticles offered higher heat
transfer surface area at the cost of higher viscosity leading to increased
melting and freezing time. Considering the results, improved heat
transfer characteristics reduced the melting and freezing time by 5.7,
14.2, 23.4, 29.8% and 5.9, 13.4, 21.1, 28.7% with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and
1.0 m.% of hybrid nanoparticles in base material respectively. Zeng
et al. (2016) prepared unique nanocomposite containing Sn, SiO2 and
Ag for photothermal conversion and thermal storage in a volumetric
solar collector (VASC). Tin advocates energy storage, silica and silver
are dispersed in core and shell form with silver core to enhance ab-
sorption of light. Phase change of Sn promotes its ability to store heat.
Molten salt based nanofluids have also shown promising features
pertaining to thermal energy storage i.e. specific heat capacity and la-
tent heat. Molten salts are perceived to be the best thermal energy
storage media as compared to conventional organic substances like
fatty acid, alkalis, and oils since molten salts can operate at high tem-
peratures (up to 600 °C). Important factors associated with these fluids
include; constituent materials, preparation process, stability, etc.
Muñoz-sánchez and Nieto-maestre (2018)) have comprehensively
summarized all the associated factors with brief description of past
work. Both experimental and simultaneous research studies have been
conducted to evaluate the feasibility of molten salt based nanofluids.
Chieruzzi et al. (2017) tested molten salt based hybrid nanofluid for
thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power applications. They
used NaNO3-KNO3 solar salt with 60–40 wt% concentration as basefluid
and nanoparticles of SiO2, Al2O3 and SiO2-Al2O3 were added in the
basefluid to form a nanofluid. They kept the concentration of the na-
noparticles at 1.0 wt%. Heat capacity of the basefluid (NaNO3-KNO3) in
solid phase was observed to increase from 1.589 J/g-°C to a maximum
of 2.417 J/g-°C when SiO2-Al2O3 hybrid nanoparticles were inserted at
200 rpm screw speed for 30 min mixing period. Whereas in liquid phase
the maximum heat capacity of the same substance reached up to a
maximum of 1.936 J/g-°C from 1.632 J/g-°C. They attributed the opti-
mized results to improved morphology of the substance. The influential
factors besides nanoparticle type were reported to be preparation
parameters such as mixing period and mixing speed. Hybrid nanofluid
(SiO2-Al2O3/NaNO3-KNO3) yielded optimal results (13.5% increase in
stored energy and 52.1%, 18.6% increase in heat capacity in solid and
liquid phase respectively) compared to unitary nanofluids (SiO2/
NaNO3-KNO3: 3.0% increase in stored energy and 28.9%, 2.6% eleva-
tion in heat capacity in solid and liquid phase respectively, Al2O3/
191
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
NaNO3-KNO3: 45% increase in stored energy and 25.2%, 2.8% increase
in heat capacity in solid and liquid phase respectively). Chieruzzi et al.
(2013) prepared a nanofluid containing NaNO3-KNO3 solar salt (with
60–40 wt% concentration) and nanoparticles dispersed in basefluid.
They used SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3 and SiO2-Al2O3 nanoparticles as colloidal
substance with different concentrations (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt%). Max-
imum percentage increase in specific heat capacity was observed to be
14.9%, 19.9%, and 57.7% for SiO2-base salt, Al2O3-base salt and SiO2-
Al2O3-base salt respectively at 1.0 wt% in solid phase. Whereas in liquid
phase, at 1.0 wt% the enhancement was observed to be 0.8%, 5.9%, and
22.5% for SiO2, Al2O3, and SiO2-Al2O3 based nanofluids respectively.
However, TiO2 based nanofluid exhibited reduction in specific heat
capacity as compared to base salt. The mentioned anomalous elevation
in heat capacity could be attributed to the structural improvements and
formation of nanolayers around the surface of nanoparticles. This layer
is perceived to be semi-solid layer which eventually leads to ordered
structure formation. Percolation formation is the reason behind
anomalous augmentation in thermal properties (Shin and Banerjee,
2010).
Similarly, Lasfargues et al. (2015) dispersed CuO and TiO2 nano-
particles in NaNO3-KNO3 solar salt (with 60–40 wt% concentration)
basefluid. Based on experimental evidences they narrated the heat ca-
pacity enhancement of about 10.48% and 4.95% for CuO (at 440 °C and
0.1 wt%) and TiO2 (at 440 °C and 0.5 wt%) respectively. The two tested
nanofluids reacted differently against concentration escalation. Energy
storage capacity of CuO decreased with increasing concerning, there-
fore best performance of CuO based nanofluid was observed at
minimum concentration i.e. 0.1 wt%. On the other hand, TiO2 showed
no significant alteration in heat storage capacity in a response to con-
centration change. Along preparatory operation parameters and con-
centration of het nanoparticles, size of nanoparticles is also an im-
portant factor that influences the heat capacity of the thermal energy
storing fluid. To evaluate the effect of nanoparticle size, Dudda and
Shin (2013) conducted an experimental investigation and they ob-
served an increase in specific heat capacity of 8%, 12%, 19%, and 27%
for 5 nm, 10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm sized nanoparticles (SiO2, 1.0 wt%)
dispersed in NaNO3-KNO3 solar salt (with 60–40 wt% concentration)
basefluid respectively. Considering the narrated trend, increasing par-
ticle size leads to increased heat storage capacity. Shin and Banerjee
(2010) reported the enhancement of specific heat of silica nanoparticles
based nanofluid up to 24% and 42% for agglomerated and refined
samples respectively in liquid phase. Whereas, in solid phase the aug-
mentation was observed to be up to 75% and 101% for agglomerated
and refined samples respectively. Hu et al. (2017) evaluated heat ca-
pacity enhancement of Al2O3 nanofluid by inserting the same molten
salt. They reported 8.3% maximum elevation in specific heat capacity
at 2.0 wt% concentration of nanoparticles. They reported the heat ca-
pacity to increase with nanoparticle concentration i.e. enhancement
was observed to be 1.9% to 8.3% when the concentration increased
from 0.5 wt% to 2.0 wt%. In contrast, binary molten-salt based nano-
fluid containing CuO nanoparticles exhibited heat capacity impediment
against concentration enhancement as reported by Luo et al. (2017).
They observed maximum enhancement in heat capacity to be about
11.48% in liquid phase and 7.96% in solid phase as compared to molten
salt at 0.5 wt% of nanoparticles. They reported the maximum thermal
energy storage enhancement as 4.71% at 0.5 wt%. The tested range of
concentration was 0.1–3.0 wt%. They regarded the heat storage en-
hancement to the formation needle shaped intermediate layer around
the nanoparticles. Both thermal energy storage and heat capacity of the
tested fluid were found to increase with increasing temperature. Some
other factors like mixing time and stirring rate have also been appraised
by some researchers and they have reported significant influence of
aforementioned factors on heat capacity enhancement of salt based
nanofluids. Song et al. (2018) appraised the heat capacity enhancement
of 1.0 wt% SiO2 nanofluid containing nitrate salt (Ca(NO3)2·4H2O-
KNO3-NaNO3-LiNO3) against different mixing periods (15, 45, 90, 120,
 Table 4
Summary of the applications of hybrid nanofluids in solar energy systems.
Reference Nanofluid Concentration Particle size Solar system Results

Al-Waeli et al. (2017b) SiC-PCM-H2O SiC: 0.1% mass fraction 45–65 nm PV/T 39.52%, 73.27% and 92.68% increment in electric efficiency for water,
PCM and PCM + SiC nanofluid based PV/T system respectively. Thermal
T.R. Shah and H.M. Ali

efficiency elevation was 10.41% and 45.1% for PCM-based and PCM + SiC
nanofluid-based system as compared to water-based system
Younis et al. (2018) Al2O3-ZnO/H2O Al2O3: 0.5 wt% Al2 O3 : 5 nm PV/T Thermal, electrical and overall energy efficiency increased by 4.054%,
ZnO: 0.5 wt% ZnO: 10–30 nm 0.038% and 4.092% whereas exergy efficiency increased by 4.588%,
0.044% and 4.632% respectively as compared to the water-cooled PV/T
system
Sathieshkumar (2018) Cu-TiO2/H2O 0.2 wt% 250 nm PV/T 9.87% and 13.83% augmentation in electrical efficiency for water and
nanofluid based systems respectively. Thermal efficiency of the nanofluid
based system increased by 5.84% as compared to water-based system
Hjerrild et al. (2016) Ag-SiO2-CNT/H2O Ag-SiO2: 0.006 wt% Ag-SiO2 nanodiscs: 17.5 nm PV/T Hybrid nanofluid showed 51% optical efficiency whereas highly
CNT: 0.067 wt% CNT: 6–13 nm diameter and 1 μ m concentrated core and shell Ag-SiO2/H2O nanofluid at 0.0126 wt% resulted
length 58% optical efficiency. This nanofluid absorbed all the radiations in visible
region (415–585 nm) CNT containing nanofluid filter based system’s
electrical efficiency dropped, nevertheless, combined (electrical + thermal)
efficiency increased by 30% at 0.026 wt% of Ag and SiO2 nanoparticles
Crisostomo et al. (2017) Ag-SiO2/H2O 0.025 wt% N/A PV/T 12% increment in weighted energy output obtained for nanofluid based
spectrally splitting PV/T system compared to stand alone system
Fang and Xuan (2017) CuO-ZnO/H2 O 0.01 vol fraction and 0.7:0.3 CuO-ZnO: 30 nm N/A 97.35% photothermal conversion efficiency and 1.5% as compared to
stochiometric ratio CuO: 50 nm mono-nanofluid of CuO in water. Solar weighted absorption of hybrid
nanofluid containing two components in equal ratio was reported 98.67%.
In case of mono nanofluid of CuO, it was 99.47%
Du and Tang (2016) Nanosheet, nanorod and nano- 0.0003% 20 nm average size DASC Solar absorption increased by 104% as compared to spherical shape gold-
ellipsoid shape gold nanoparticles based mono-nanofluid. Blended nanofluid was reported to absorb 82.3%

192
dispersed in water incident light
Farajzadeh et al. (2018) Al2O3-TiO2/water 0.1 wt% Al2 O3 : 20 nm Flat plate For TiO2/water and Al2O3/water thermal efficiency increased by 19% and
TiO2 : 15 nm 21% compared to water-based system respectively. Binary nanofluid
yielded 26% efficiency
Bellos and Tzivanidis Al2O3-TiO2/Oil 3 vol%: 1.5%Al2O3-1.5%TiO2 N/A PTC Efficiency improved by 0.7% for mono-nanofluids and 1.8% for hybrid
(2018) nanofluid as compared to water-based system at 2300 Re, and turbulent
flow
Mehrali et al. (2018) Ag-rGO/H2O 40 ppm Spherical Ag nanoparticles: 25–40 nm DASC Efficiency of collector reached up to 77% owing to the optimized optical
properties of hybrid fluid. Efficiency enhanced by 2.7 times compared to
basefluid
Shende and Sundara rGO-MWCNT/DI-water N/A N/A DASC Values of solar absorption coefficient, channel’s length and depth,
(2015) temperature difference, and corresponding efficiency were discussed. They
predicted a maximum of 75.5% solar efficiency at optimum condition
Zeng and Xuan (2018) SiO2/Ag-MWCNT/DI-water 0.001–0.1 vol% SiO2:150 nm DASC Collector efficiency reached up to 97.6% at 0.1 vol% of binary fluid.
MWCNT: 3–15 nm inner diameter, Whereas, solar weighted absorption fractions up to 74.5% for binary fluid
8–15 nm outer diameter, and 3–12 μm and SiO2/Ag and MWCNTs mono- nanofluid yielded 73.2% and 69.1%
length respectively at 1 cm penetration depth and 0.005 vol%
Lee et al. (2012) SiO2-Au/Water blended nanofluid 0.05 vol% Average diameter of gold-nanoshell: DASC 70% collector efficiency mark was achieved by using hybrid nanofluid even
with four different core and shell sizes. GNS 1–60 nm (20%) at low concentration. Temperature increase of fluid across 1 m length of
GNS 2–70 nm (15%) collector is only 45 K
GNS 3–100 nm (25%)
GNS 4–116 nm (40%)
Chen et al. (2017) Au-Ag/water (Bimetallic) 0.00025 vol% Bimetallic: 29 ± 7 average size N/A Photothermal efficiency of the system was found 41.37 ± 0.71%, and
Au-Ag/water (Blended) Au/Ag: 4/6 molar ratio Blended, 31.41 ± 0.93% for bimetallic and blended binary-nanofluids respectively
Au: 10 ± 2 nm
Ag: 38 ± 7 nm
Carrillo-Torres et al. Ag-Au/DI-water N./A N./A N./A Observed 74.68% photothermal efficiency at optimum conditions. Soon
(2016) after 15 min, fluid’s temperature increased by 20 °C
(continued on next page)
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 173–203
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apparently, in the case of solemn vows of perpetual chastity. It will be
observed that this heaven is moved by the Angels, who are severally
assigned to individuals as guardians, and who are the bearers of
tidings of God’s bounty to men; and, corresponding to this, the
questions solved relate to the salvation and guidance of individual
souls, and to the great gift of liberty, whereby God’s bounty is
specially shown.
The Heaven of Mercury.—In the second sphere, the heaven of
Mercury, appear the souls of those who did great things for humanity
or for special nations, but who were actuated by mixed motives;
personal ambition, desire of fame and honour, made “the rays of true
love mount upwards less vividly” (Par. vi. 117); and they have thus
the next lowest mansion of beatitude to the spirits that appeared in
the inconstant Moon. The Emperor Justinian recites the proud
history of the Roman Eagle, and shows how Divine Providence
established the sway of the Roman people over all the earth, made
the Eagle the instrument of the Atonement offered by Christ for all
mankind, the avenger of His death, the protector of His Church. As
the monarch who reformed and codified Roman Law, of which he is
for Dante the personification, and who restored Italy to the Empire
(the work which the Veltro is to renew under altered conditions of
Christendom), Justinian lifts the imperial ideal far above the factious
politics of the Middle Ages, condemning Guelfs and Ghibellines alike
as traitors and sowers of discord. Here, too, is Romeo of Villanova,
who did in a lesser degree for Provence what Justinian did for the
Empire, thus appearing with him in the sphere that is moved by the
Archangels, whose function is to guide and protect particular nations.
The figure of Romeo—unjustly accused of corrupt practices in office,
supporting with magnanimous heart the poverty and humiliations of
voluntary exile—is perhaps an unconscious portrait of Dante himself.
Even as the Archangels announce messages of special import and
sacredness, as Gabriel did to Mary, so Beatrice explains to Dante
the mystery of man’s redemption by the Incarnation and Crucifixion,
the supremest work at once of Divine Justice and Divine Mercy (Par.
vii.), and touches somewhat upon the immortality of the soul and the
resurrection of the body.
 The Heaven of Venus.—The third heaven, the sphere of Venus,
is moved by the celestial Principalities, whose office is to influence
earthly rulers to imitate the principality of God, by uniting love with
their lordship. They are those, according to St. Bernard, “by whose
management and wisdom all principality on earth is set up, ruled,
limited, transferred, diminished, and changed.” Into this sphere
descend the souls of purified lovers, brilliant lights moving circle-wise
and hidden in the rays of their own joy. Carlo Martello, son of
Charles II. of Naples, and son-in-law of Rudolph of Hapsburg, who,
by reason of his marriage with Clemenza, might have healed the
feuds of Guelfs and Ghibellines, pictures the realms over which he
should have ruled, denounces the misgovernment of his own house,
and explains the influence of the celestial bodies for the constitution
of society and the government of states (Par. viii.). Cunizza da
Romano, the famous sister of Ezzelino, rebukes the anarchy of the
March of Treviso; a “modern child of Venus,” she here appears as
the type of a perfect penitent (Par. ix.). Like her, Folco of Marseilles,
poet then prelate, but here recorded only as troubadour, remembers
the love sins of his youth, not with sorrow, but with gratitude to the
Divine Mercy and wonder at the mysteries of Providence. Rahab of
Jericho, the highest spirit of this sphere, is a type of the Church,
saved by Christ’s blood from the ruin of the world; and, with a fine
thrust at the loveless avarice of the Pope and his cardinals, Dante
passes with Beatrice beyond the shadow of the earth.
The Heaven of the Sun.—To mark this higher grade of bliss and
knowledge, Dante pauses on his entrance into the fourth sphere, the
heaven of the Sun, to sing again of the Creation, the work of the
Blessed Trinity, and the order of the Universe, the visible expression
of the perfection of Divine art (Par. x. 1-21). The Sun is ruled by the
celestial Powers, the angelic order that represents the Divine
majesty and power, combats the powers of darkness, and stays
diseases. Here, in two garlands of celestial lights surrounding Dante
and Beatrice, appear the glorious souls of twenty-four teachers and
doctors, who illuminated the world by example and doctrine; the
twofold work of co-operation with the celestial Powers, which is seen
in its supereminent degree in the lives of St. Francis and St.
Dominic, the champions who led the armies of Christ against the
powers of darkness and healed the spiritual diseases of the Christian
world. St. Thomas Aquinas, the great light of the Dominicans, after
naming the other eleven spirits of his circle (Albertus Magnus,
Gratian, Peter Lombard, Solomon, Dionysius, Orosius, Boëthius,
Isidore, Bede, Richard of St. Victor, and Siger), sings the glorious
panegyric of St. Francis, the seraphic bridegroom of Poverty,
laments the backsliding of the Dominicans (Par. xi.). St.
Bonaventura, once minister-general of the Franciscans, extols the
marvellous life of St. Dominic, the cherubical lover of Faith, the great
paladin in Holy Church’s victorious battle where St. Francis bore the
standard of the Crucified (Par. xii.). Lamenting the degenerate state
of the Franciscans, he names the eleven spirits that accompany him;
two of the followers of St. Francis, Illuminato and Agostino; Hugh of
St. Victor; Peter Comestor, Peter of Spain (the logician whose
elevation to the papacy as John XXI. may be ignored in Paradise),
Nathan, Chrysostom, St. Anselm, Aelius Donatus (the Latin
grammarian), Rabanus Maurus, and the Calabrian abbot Joachim.
Lovers of poverty, rebukers of corruption, historians, mystics,
theologians, writers of humble text-books are here associated in the
same glory, as servants of truth in the same warfare against the
powers of darkness. They illustrate what St. Bonaventura calls the
broadness of the illuminative way. Each group closes with a spirit
whose orthodoxy had been at least questioned. Siger of Brabant, the
champion of Averroism at the university of Paris, had “syllogised
invidious truths,” and met with a violent death at the Papal Court at
Orvieto about 1284. Joachim of Flora, “endowed with prophetic
spirit,” had foretold the advent of the epoch of the Holy Ghost, in
which the Everlasting Gospel, the spiritual interpretation of the
Gospel of Christ, would leave no place for disciplinary institutions;
his later followers among the Franciscans had been condemned at
the Council of Anagni in 1256.
St. Thomas further explains to Dante the grades of perfection in
God’s creatures, from the Angels downwards; whereby His Divine
light is more or less imperfectly reflected, and the likeness of the
Divine ideas more or less imperfectly expressed—perfectly only
when the Trinity creates immediately, as in the case of Adam and the
humanity of Christ (Par. xiii.). Solomon, whose peerless wisdom St.
Thomas had explained as “royal prudence,” instructs Dante
concerning the splendour of the body after the resurrection, when
human personality will be completed and the perfection of beatitude
fulfilled (Par. xiv.). In a mysteriously beautiful apparition of what
seems to be another garland of spirits in the Sun, this vision of the
fourth heaven closes; and Beatrice and her lover are “translated to
more lofty salvation” in the glowing red of Mars.
The Heaven of Mars.—The fifth heaven, the sphere of Mars, is
ruled by the angelic Virtues. This is the order which images the
Divine strength and fortitude; their name, according to Dionysius,
signifies “a certain valiant and unconquerable virility.” According to
St. Bernard, they are those “by whose command or work signs and
prodigies are wrought among the elements, for the admonition of
mortals,” and it is through them that the sign of the Son of Man shall
appear in heaven as foretold in the Gospel.[39] Therefore, in Mars,
Dante beholds a great image of the Crucified, blood-red, formed by
stars which are the souls of the warrior saints, whom the Virtues
impressed at their birth with the influence of the planet (Par. xvii. 76-
78), to be strongly and manfully valiant, and to do notable things on
earth (ibid. 92, 93), even as the Virtues, according to St. Bernard,
work signs and prodigies among the elements.
Cacciaguida passes from the right arm of the Cross to greet his
descendant, like Anchises to Aeneas in Elysium. In his long
discourse with the poet (Par. xv. and xvi.) we dimly discern a
splendidly ideal picture of a free Italian commune of the twelfth
century, before what Dante regards as the corrupting influence of
wealth and illegitimate extension of its boundaries had fallen upon it,
and before the hostility of the Church to the Empire, with the
resulting confusion of persons in the city, had involved the
Florentines in the feuds of Guelfs and Ghibellines. Then, having
bitterly lamented the decay of the old Florentine families and the
corruption of their successors, Cacciaguida co-operates with the
Virtues by inspiring Dante with endurance and fortitude to suffer
unjust exile and perform his life’s work (Par. xvii.). In the famous and
most noble lines, to which reference has already been made in
touching upon this epoch of Dante’s life, Cacciaguida foretells the
poet’s banishment, the calumnies of his enemies, his sufferings in
exile, his forming a party to himself, the future greatness of Can
Grande, Dante’s own certainty of eternal fame. And let him be no
timid friend to truth, but make manifest his whole vision, and
especially assail corruption in highest places (cf. Mon. iii. 1). It is
Dante’s apologia for his own life, first as citizen, then as poet. The
keynote of the closing years of his life is struck at the opening of
Canto xviii.: “And that Lady who was leading me to God said:
‘Change thy thought; think that I am near to Him who unburdens
every wrong.’” Gazing upon her, his affection “was free from every
other desire.” Then, with a charge of celestial chivalry across the sky,
this vision of warriors closes; Joshua and Judas Maccabaeus,
Charlemagne and Orlando, William of Orange still with Renoardo,
Godfrey de Bouillon and Robert Guiscard, flash through the Cross,
and are rejoined by Cacciaguida in their motion and their song.
The Heaven of Jupiter.—The silvery white sphere of Jupiter, the
sixth heaven, is ruled by the Dominations, the angelic order which
images the archetypal dominion in God as the source of true
dominion. “We must consider in the Dominations,” writes St.
Bernard, “how great is the majesty of the Lord, at whose bidding
empire is established, and of whose empire universality and eternity
are the bounds.” This, then, is the sphere of ideal government, the
heaven of the planet that effectuates justice upon earth (Par. xviii.
115-117). The souls of faithful and just rulers appear as golden
lights, singing and flying like celestial birds. They first form the text,
Diligite iustitiam que iudicatis terram, “Love justice, you that are the
judges of the earth” (Wisdom, i. 1, Vulgate), tracing successively the
letters until they rest in the final golden M, the initial letter of
Monarchy or Empire, under which alone can justice be paramount on
earth, and then, with further transformations, become the celestial
Eagle (Par. xviii. 100-114). This is the “sign which made the Romans
reverend in the world” (xix. 101); no emblem of material conquest,
but the image of the sempiternal justice of the Primal Will, the type of
dominion on earth ordained by God. It is the allegorical
representation of the doctrines of the Monarchia. And, since justice
is obscured and good government rendered abortive by the simony
of the pastors of the Church, which leads them to oppose the
Empire, Dante has a bitter word in season for the reigning pontiff,
John XXII (Par. xviii. 130-136).
In the perfect concord of its component spirits the Eagle, speaking
with one voice, discourses upon the immutability and absolute justice
of the Divine Will, which is inscrutable and incomprehensible to
mortals (Par. xix.). Having rebuked the wickedness of all the kings
and princes then reigning, from the Emperor-elect (Albert of Austria
in 1300) to the King of Cyprus, it sets forth in contrast to them the
example of just and righteous monarchs and rulers of olden time, the
six noblest of whom now form its eye—David, Trajan, Hezekiah,
Constantine, the Norman William II. of Sicily, and Rhipeus the Trojan
(Par. xx.). Three exquisite lines (73-75)—introduced as a mere
image—render the flight and song of the skylark with a beauty and
fidelity to nature which even Shelley was not to surpass. The
salvation of Trajan, through the prayers of St. Gregory, and Rhipeus,
by internal inspiration concerning the Redeemer to come, unveils yet
more wondrous mysteries in the treasury of Divine Justice, which
suffers itself to be overcome by hope and love. Rhipeus, the justest
among the Trojans and the strictest observer of right (Virgil, Aen. ii.
426, 427; cf. Acts x. 35), by his presence solves Dante’s doubt
concerning the fate of the just heathen who die without baptism, and
indicates that the race which gave the ancestors to the Roman
people was not without Divine light.
Heaven of Saturn.—The last of the seven heavens of the
planets is the sphere of Saturn, over which the Thrones preside.
According to Dionysius, the Thrones are associated with
steadfastness, supermundane tendency towards and reception of
the Divine. They represent, according to St. Bernard, supreme
tranquillity, most calm serenity, peace which surpasses all
understanding; and upon them God sits as judge (cf. Par. ix. 61, 62).
In Saturn appear the contemplative saints, and the monks who kept
firm and steadfast in the cloister. They pass up and down the
celestial Ladder of Contemplation (Par. xxi. and xxii.), the stairway by
which the soul mystically ascends to the consideration of the
impenetrable mysteries of God which transcend all reason. In this
high stage of progress towards the suprasensible Beatrice does not
smile, for Dante’s human intellect could not yet sustain it, and the
sweet symphonies of Paradise are silent. St. Peter Damian
discourses upon the impenetrable mysteries of Divine
predestination, and rebukes the vicious and luxurious lives of the
great prelate and cardinals. St. Benedict describes the foundation of
his own great order, and laments the shameless corruption of
contemporary Benedictines. Thus in this, and, above all, in the cry
like thunder which bursts from the contemplatives at the conclusion
of Peter Damian’s words, threatening the Divine vengeance which is
to fall upon the corrupt pastors of the Church, the saints of the
seventh sphere unite themselves with the celestial Thrones, whose
office is purification, and who are the mirrors of the terrible
judgments of God.
The Gemini.—At Beatrice’s bidding, Dante follows the
contemplatives up the celestial ladder, entering the Firmament at the
sign of the Gemini or Twins, beneath which he was born (Par. xxii.
112-123). To his natal stars, and thus to the Cherubim with whose
virtue they are animated, he appeals for power to complete the work
for which they have inspired him. In a momentary vision, with the
capacity of his inward soul enlarged, he looks down upon the whole
Universe, and estimates aright the relative value of all things in
heaven and earth, now that he is prepared to witness the true glories
of Paradise.
The Stellar Heaven.—The Firmament or stellar heaven, the
eighth sphere, is ruled by the Cherubim, who represent the Divine
Wisdom; it is the celestial counterpart of the Garden of Eden. Here
the fruit of man’s redemption is mystically shown in a vision of the
triumph of Christ, the new Adam, surrounded by myriads of shining
lights which draw their light from Him and represent the souls of the
blessed whom He has sanctified (Par. xxiii.). After Christ has
ascended from this celestial garden, where Mary is the rose and the
Apostles the lilies, the Archangel Gabriel descends with ineffable
melody and attends upon the new Eve, “the living garden of delight,
wherein the condemnation was annulled and the tree of life
planted,”[40] in her Assumption.
 The four spheres of the higher planets had set forth a celestial
realisation of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Fortitude, Justice,
and Temperance, with perfect man according to the capacity of
human nature; now, in this sphere of the Cherubim whose name
indicates plenitude of the knowledge of God, Dante is examined
upon the three theological virtues, which have God for their object as
He transcends the knowledge of our reason, and which put man on
the way to supernatural happiness. “If we would enter Paradise and
the fruition of Truth,” writes St. Bonaventura, “the image of our mind
must be clothed with the three theological virtues, whereby the mind
is purified, illumined, and rendered perfect, and thus the image is
reformed and made fit for the Jerusalem which is above.” Dante’s
answers to St. Peter upon Faith (Par. xxiv.), to St. James upon Hope
(Par. xxv.), to St. John upon Charity (Par. xxvi.), contain the essence
of the devout wisdom of the schoolmen upon those three divine gifts,
whereby man participates in the Deity, and “we ascend to
philosophise in that celestial Athens, where Stoics and Peripatetics
and Epicureans, by the art of the eternal Truth, harmoniously concur
in one will” (Conv. iii. 14). For the object of Faith and Love alike
Dante, even in Paradise, can appeal to the Metaphysics of Aristotle
(Par. xxiv. 130-132, xxvi. 37-39); and all the celestial music cannot
quite drown the poet’s sigh for that fair Florentine sheepfold, from
which he is still barred out, though Hell and Heaven have opened for
him their eternal gates (Par. xxv. 1-12). Within a fourth light the soul
of Adam appears, to instruct Dante upon the proper cause of his fall
and upon his life in the Earthly Paradise, now that the poet has seen
the triumph and ascent of the new Adam. Adam, in whom was
directly infused all the light lawful to human nature to have (Par. xiii.
43), is the last soul that appears to Dante until the consummation of
the vision in the Empyrean. On the close of his discourse, a hymn of
glory to the Blessed Trinity resounds through Paradise, a laugh of
the Universe in joy of the mystery of Redemption (Par. xxvii. 1-9).
Then, while all Heaven blushes and there is a celestial eclipse as at
the Crucifixion, St. Peter utters a terrible denunciation of the
scandals and corruption in the Papacy and the Church, wherein
Dante, as in the Epistle to the Italian Cardinals, takes his stand as
the Jeremiah of Roman Catholicity.
 The Ninth Heaven.—When the saints have returned to their
places in the Empyrean, Dante, after a last look to earth, passes up
with his lady into the ninth sphere, the Crystalline heaven. Beatrice
discourses upon the order of the heavens and the want of
government upon earth, prophesying that, before very long,
deliverance and reformation will come, even as St. Peter had
announced in the sphere below. Here, where nature begins, Dante
has a preparatory manifestation of the nine angelic orders, the
ministers of Divine Providence, who ordain and dispose all things by
moving the spheres. They appear as nine circles of flame, revolving
round an atomic Point of surpassing brilliancy, which symbolises the
supreme unity of God, the poet again having recourse to the
Metaphysics of Aristotle: “From that Point depends heaven and all
nature” (Par. xxviii. 41, 42). Each angelic circle is swifter and more
brilliant as it is nearer to the centre, each hierarchy striving after the
utmost possible assimilation to God and union with Him. Swiftest and
brightest of all are the Seraphim, who move this ninth sphere; the
angelic order that, representing the Divine Love, loves most and
knows most. “In the Angels,” says Colet on Dionysius, “an intensity
of knowledge is love; a less intense love is knowledge.” The relation
of the Seraphim to the Cherubim is that of fire to light; their special
office is perfecting, as that of the Cherubim is illumination. All the
orders contemplate God, and manifest Him to creatures to draw
them to Him. Receiving from God the Divine light and love that
makes them like to Him, the higher orders reflect this to the lower,
like mirrors reflecting the Divine rays; and these lower orders reflect
it to men, so rendering all things, as far as possible to each nature,
like to God and in union with Him. After distinguishing between the
different orders according to Dionysius, Beatrice speaks of their
creation as especially illustrating the Divine Love, which the
Seraphim represent (Par. xxix.), and their place in the order of the
Universe, the fall of the rebellious, the reward of the faithful, and their
immeasurable number. Each Angel belongs to a different species,
and each differs from every other in its reception of Divine light and
love.
The Empyrean.—Dante and Beatrice now issue forth of the last
material sphere into the Empyrean, the true Paradise of vision,
comprehension, and fruition, where man’s will is set at rest in union
with universal Good, and his intellect in the possession of universal
Truth. In preparation for this Divine union, Dante is momentarily
blinded by the Divine light which overpowers him with its radiance—
a blindness followed by a new celestial sight and new faculties for
comprehending the essence of spiritual things. The first empyreal
vision is still a foreshadowing preface: a river of light, the stream
which makes the city of God joyful, the wondrous flowers of celestial
spring, the living sparks of angelic fire. This river of Divine grace is
the fountain of wisdom from which, according to Bernard, the
Cherubim drink, to pour out the streams of knowledge upon all God’s
citizens; and of this fountain Dante, too, drinks with his eyes, that he
may more fully see the vision of God which he has to relate, to
diffuse His knowledge upon earth as the Cherubim do from Heaven.
By the light of glory his mind is rendered capable of seeing those
spiritual things which the blessed behold with immediate intuition,
and of ultimate union with the Divine Essence (Par. xxx. 100-102).
The river seems to change to a circular ocean of light; the saints and
Angels appear in their true forms, all united in the sempiternal Rose
of Paradise. Even at this height of ecstatic alienation from terrestrial
things, Dante can turn in thought to Pope and Emperor who should
be leading men to beatitude; a throne is prepared for Henry in this
convent of white stoles, while the hell of the simoniacs is gaping for
Boniface and Clement.
Eternity, as defined by Boëthius, is “the complete and perfect
simultaneous possession of unlimited life”; and Dante is one who
has come from time to the eternal: a l’etterno dal tempo era venuto
(Par. xxxi. 38).[41] Beatrice has returned to her throne, her allegorical
mission ended; and for this supreme revelation of the Divine beauty
in the mystical Rose, where there is no medium to impede the poet’s
sight of the Divine light (for his is now that of a separated spirit), but
blessed souls and flying Angels are absorbed in love and vision, St.
Bernard completes her work, even as that of Virgil had been
completed by Matelda in the Earthly Paradise. St. Bernard may
represent the glorified contemplative life in our heavenly country, as
Matelda may symbolise the glorified active life in the state of
restored Eden; or, perhaps better, if Matelda is taken as the love
rightly ordered to which the Purgatorio leads, Bernard represents the
loving contemplation or contemplative love, attained by the mystic in
brief moments here and now, in which the eternal and unchanging
life of the soul in the hereafter consists. In an exquisite lyrical inter-
breathing Dante addresses Beatrice for the last time, thanking her
for having led him from servitude to liberty, praying to her for final
perseverance (Par. xxxi. 79-90). Under the guidance of Bernard, he
prepares himself for the vision of the Divine Essence, by disciplining
his spiritual sight in contemplation of the glory of the saints and of
the ineffable beauty of Mary, surrounded by her Angels, and clothed,
as Bernard himself puts it elsewhere, in the Sun by whose fire the
prophet’s lips were cleansed and the Cherubim kindled with love.
Throughout the Rose two descending lines divide the redeemed of
the old law from the redeemed under the new. The one line passes
down from Mary’s throne, composed of holy women, ancestresses of
Christ or types of His Church: Eve, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith,
Ruth (Par. xxxii.). With Rachel, in the third row, Beatrice is seated.
The opposite line passes down from the seat of the Baptist, Christ’s
precursor; and begins with St. Francis, His closest and most perfect
imitator, St. Benedict (in the third row opposite to Rachel and
Beatrice), St. Augustine. The lower sections of each half of the Rose
are occupied by the little children who died before attaining use of
reason; and who yet have different degrees of bliss, according to the
inscrutable mysteries of predestination and Divine Justice, which
willed to give grace differently to each. Another vision of Mary, the
supreme of created things, “the face that is most like to Christ,
whose beauty alone can dispose thee to see Christ” (Par. xxxii. 85-
87), is the prelude to the vision of the Deity. Before her hovers her
chosen knight, Gabriel, the “strength of God,” the pattern of celestial
chivalry, leggiadria. Round her are Adam and St. Peter, Moses and
St. John the Divine; opposite the two latter are St. Anne and St.
Lucy. Thus the three Ladies who took pity upon Dante in the dark
wood, when the mystical journey opened, have been seen in their
glory at its close.
 Mary and the Divine Essence.—And the poet turns finally to the
Primal Love, by Mary’s grace and Bernard’s intercession, in the
lyrical prayer that opens the wonderful closing canto of the
Commedia:

Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio,

“Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son.” Setting forth her predestination

from eternity to bring the Redeemer into the world, her office of love
and hope to Heaven and earth, her infinite excellence and dignity,
her power and never-failing love, St. Bernard implores of her grace
for Dante to rise to the vision of the Divine Essence now, in ecstatic
contemplation, and then for his final perseverance that, on his return
to earth, her loving protection may strengthen him against the
assaults of passion, until he rejoice once more in the Beatific Vision
for all eternity. Human love becomes one with the divine where
Beatrice—joined with him now in the union of fruition—is named for
the last time in the poem as he draws near to his mystical goal.
In answer to Mary’s intercession, an anticipation is granted to
Dante of the vision wherein the last and perfect beatitude of man
consists. The supreme experience of the soul, recognised by the
great mystics from Plotinus and Augustine to Richard of St. Victor
and Bonaventura, is rendered into unsurpassable poetry with the
impassioned conviction that it has been the writer’s own. All ardour
of desire dies away. Entering into the Divine light, uniting his
intellectual gaze with the Divine Essence, he actualises all
potentialities of spiritual vision therein. In the Divine light, he beholds
all nature, all Being scattered in leaves throughout the Universe here
united by love into one volume; the vision of the First Cause which
satisfies the understanding becomes that of the Supreme Goodness
which fulfils the will; and this First Cause, this Supreme Goodness,
itself remaining unchanged, becomes revealed to the poet’s ever
strengthening intuition as the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, in which
the Person of the Word took Human Nature.
 A l’alta fantasia qui mancò possa;

“Here power failed the lofty phantasy”—the inspired imagination of

the prophet; but it left the desire and will assimilated in perfect
harmony with the will of God—the Divine will revealed as universal,
all-pervading, and all-moving love, “the love that moves the sun and
the other stars”:

L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.

FOOTNOTES:
[28] “Della insufficienza del titolo è prova ed effetto il pronto e
universale accoglimento, che, messo una volta sul frontespizio,
trovò l’epiteto divina, che al generico Commedia diede
determinatezza e colore” (P. Rajna, Il titolo del poema dantesco,
in Studi danteschi diretti da M. Barbi, vol. iv.).
[29] For details of structure and scansion, the reader should
consult P. E. Guarnerio, Manuale di versificazione italiana; G.
Federzoni, Dei versi e dei metri italiani; F. D’Ovidio, Versificaizone
italiana e arte poetica medioevale.
[30] Cf. G. Livi, op. cit., pp. 26, 27.
[31] Traces of an earlier design have been tentatively found in
various places of the first seven cantos, and associated with
Boccaccio’s story of Dante having begun the poem before his
exile and resumed it after the recovery of his manuscript when the
guest of Moroello Malaspina. In Boccaccio’s commentary upon
the opening of Inf. viii., Andrea Poggi and Dino Perini are
represented as rival claimants for the honor of having recovered
the manuscript for Dante.
[32] Cf. Conv. ii. 5.
[33] Cf. Inf. xxxiii. 79-84 with Phars. viii. 827-830.
[34] See Moore’s Time-References.
 [35] Cf. Sonnets lx. and lxi. of The House of Life.
[36] See in particular Parodi, “L’Albero dell’Impero,” in his
Poesia e storia nella Divina Commedia.
[37] In Purg. xxx. 109-117, Dante thus distinguishes between
the ovra de le rote magne and the larghezza di grazie divine in his
own case. St. Gregory the Great, speaking of the correspondence
of men with the angelic orders, uses the phrase: divinae largitatis
munere refecti (Hom. in Evangelia, ii. 34).
[38] I venture to retain this reading, although the testo critico
now gives: E’n la sua volontade.
[39] The Vulgate has virtutes caelorum, in Matt. xxiv. and Luke
xxi., where the English Bible reads “the powers of the heavens.”
[40] St. John of Damascus.
[41] Note the scansion of the previous line (37): Io che al divino
da l’umano. There is no syneresis in ïo, no elision of the e in che;
thus emphasising Dante’s personal experience, his wonder that it
should be vouchsafed to him, and producing the slow movement,
the solemn intonation of the line.
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX
The following notes do not attempt to give a full bibliography, but
merely a selection of works that will be found useful by the readers
of this Primer.

A. Text of Complete Works of Dante,

Dictionaries and Concordances
Le Opere di Dante, testo critico della Società Dantesca Italiana, a
cura di M. Barbi, E. G. Parodi, F. Pellegrini, E. Pistelli, P. Rajna, E.
Rostagno, G. Vandelli. Con indice analitico dei nomi e delle cose di
Mario Casella. Florence, 1921. The “Sexcentenary Dante.”
Le Opere di Dante Alighieri, a cura del Dr. E. Moore, nuovamente
rivedute nel testo dal Dr. Paget Toynbee. Fourth edition. Oxford,
1923.
A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of
Dante, by Paget Toynbee. Oxford, 1898.
A Concise Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the
Works of Dante, by Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1914.
Concordance of the “Divina Commedia.” By E. A. Fay. Boston,
1888.
Concordanza delle opere italiane in prosa e del Canzoniere di
Dante Alighieri. By E. S. Sheldon and A. C. White. Oxford, 1905.
Dantis Alagherii Operum Latinorum Concordantiae. By E. K. Rand
and E. H. Wilkins, Oxford, 1912.

B. History and Literature of Dante’s Times

 Caggese, R., Firenze dalla decadenza di Roma al Risorgimento
d’Italia. Vols. i. and ii. Florence, 1912-1913.
Casini, T., Letteratura italiana: storia ed esempi. Vols. i. and ii.
Rome, 1909.
Dino Compagni, La Cronica con introduzione e commento di G.
Luzzatto. Milan, 1906. (English translation of the Chronicle by E.
Benecke and A. G. F. Howell in the “Temple Classics,” London.)
D’Ancona, A., and Bacci, O., Manuale della letteratura italiana, vol.
i. Florence.
Gaspary, A., History of Early Italian Literature to the Death of
Dante, translated by H. Oelsner. London, 1901.
Del Lungo, I., Dino Compagni e la sua Cronica (Florence, 1879-
1887); I Bianchi e i Neri (second edition. Milan, 1921).
Piccioni, L., Da Prudenzio a Dante. Turin, 1916.
Rossi, V., Storia della Letteratura Italiana per uso dei Licei. Voi. i.
(Il Medio Evo). Milan, sixth edition, 1914.
Salvemini, G., Magnati e Popolani in Firenze dal 1280 al 1295.
Florence, 1899.
Villani, Giovanni, Croniche (Istorie) fiorentine. (Best edition at
present, Florence, 1823.)
Villani, Giovanni, Selections from the first Nine Books, translated
by Rose Selfe and edited by P. H. Wicksteed. London. 1906.
Villari, P., I primi due secoli della storia di Firenze, new edition,
Florence, 1905. (English translation by Linda Villari from the first
edition.)
For the expedition of Henry of Luxemburg, the reader should study
Caggese, Roberto d’Angiò e i suoi tempi, vol. i. chap. ii. (Florence,
1922).

C. Biography, Etc.
 Codice Diplomatico Dantesco: i documenti della vita e della
famiglia di Dante, ed. G. Biagi and G. L. Passerini. Florence (in
course of publication).
Barbadoro, B., La condanna di Dante e le fazioni politiche del suo
tempo. In Studi danteschi, ed. M. Barbi, vol. ii. Florence, 1920.
Boccaccio, Il comento alla Divina Commedia e gli altri scritti
intorno a Dante, a cura di D. Guerri. Three vols. Bari, 1918. Vol. i.
contains the Vita di Dante and the Compendio.
Bruni, Leonardo, Vita di Dante (in Le vite di Dante, Petrarca e
Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosesto, ed. A. Solerti. Milan,
1904).
Foligno, C., Dante. Bergamo, 1921.
Howell, A. G. F., Dante (in “The People’s Books,” London).
Del Lungo, I., Dell’esilio di Dante. Florence, 1881.
Ricci, C., L’ultimo rifugio di Dante. Second edition. Milan, 1921.
Scherillo, M., Alcuni capitoli della biografia di Dante. Turin, 1896.
Toynbee, P., Dante Alighieri, his Life and Works. Fourth edition.
London, 1910.
Wicksteed, P. H., The Early Lives of Dante (translated). London,
1904.
Zingarelli, N., Dante (Milan, 1903); Vita di Dante in compendio
(Milan, 1905).

D. The Minor Works

The Convivio or Convito was first printed at Florence in 1490.
Eighteen canzoni (erroneously numbered as fourteen) were
published at the end of a Venetian edition of the Commedia in
November, 1491. Fifteen genuine Dantesque canzoni, with others
wrongly ascribed to him, are contained in a collection printed at
Milan and at Venice in 1518. The first partially complete edition of
Dante’s lyrical poetry is contained in the first four books of Sonetti e
canzoni di diversi antichi autori toscani in dieci libri raccolte, edited
by Bernardo di Giunta at Florence in 1527. The Vita Nuova was first
printed at Florence in 1576; but its lyrics had been given in the first
book of the 1527 Sonetti e canzoni. The De Vulgari Eloquentia was
published in Trissino’s Italian translation at Vicenza in 1529, and in
the original Latin at Paris in 1577; the Monarchia in 1559 at Basle.
The latter work had been translated into Italian by Marsilio Ficino in
the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Letter to Henry VII. was
first published in an old Italian version in 1547; in its original Latin by
Witte in 1827.
The Epistle to Can Grande was first published in 1700, the
Eclogues in 1719. The Letters as a whole were edited by Witte in
1827 and by Torri in 1842.
Special editions and studies. (a) Vita Nuova. Critical edition by M.
Barbi (Florence, 1907); with notes and commentary by M. Scherillo
(Milan, 1911, reprinted with the Canzoniere); G. Salvadori, Sulla vita
giovanile di Dante (Rome, 1906); Vita Nuova and Canzoniere, text,
translation, and notes by P. H. Wicksteed and T. Okey (“Temple
Classics”). For the “dolce stil nuovo,” V. Rossi, in Lectura Dantis, Le
Opere Minori (Florence, 1906), and Parodi, Poesia e storia nella
D.C. A new edition of the Vita Nuova is published by K. McKenzie
(London, 1923). (b) Rime or Canzoniere. M. Barbi, Studi sul
Canzoniere di Dante (Florence, 1915); G. Zonta, La lirica di Dante
(in Miscellanea dantesca, supplement 18-21 of Giornale storico della
letteratura italiana, Turin, 1922); E. G. Gardner, The Lyrical Poetry of
Dante (in preparation). For the tenzone with Forese F. Torraca, Nuovi
studi danteschi (Naples, 1921), and A. F. Massèra, Sonetti burleschi
e realistici dei primi due secoli (Bari, 1920); for the tenzone with
Dante da Maiano, S. Santangelo, Dante Alighieri e Dante da Maiano
(in Bullettino della Società Dantesca Italiana, N. S., XXVII., 1920); for
the canzone of the Tre donne, Torraca, op. cit., and Carducci, Opere
xvi (“Poesia e Storia”). The majority of the Rime are translated by
Wicksteed in the “Temple Classics” volume cited above. (c)
Convivio. Translation by W. W. Jackson (Oxford, 1909); translation
and commentary by Wicksteed in the “Temple Classics”; Wicksteed,
From Vita Nuova to Paradiso (Manchester University Press, 1922).
(d) De Vulgari Eloquentia. Critical edition by P. Rajna (Florence,
1896); facsimile reproduction of Berlin MS., L. Bertalot, Il Codice B
del “De Vulgari Eloquentia” (Florence, 1923); studies by F. D’Ovidio,
Versificazione italiana e arte poetica medioevale (Milan, 1910);
translation and commentary by A. G. F. Howell in “Temple Classics
Latin Works of Dante”; C. Foligno, Dante, the Poet (Brit. Acad.
Annual Italian Lecture, 1921). (e) Monarchia. C. Cipolla, Il trattato
“De Monarchia” di D. A. e l’opuscolo “De potestate regia et papali” di
Giovanni da Parigi (reprinted in Gli studi danteschi di Carlo Cipolla,
Verona, 1921); F. Ercole, L’unità politica della nazione italiana e
l’Impero nel pensiero di Dante (in Archivio storico italiano, LXXV.,
Florence, 1917), and Per la genesi del pensiero politico di Dante (in
Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, LXXII., Turin, 1918); E. G.
Parodi, Del concetto dell’Impero in Dante e del suo averroismo (in
Bull. d. Soc. Dantesca Italiana, N.S., XXVI., Florence, 1919); A.
Solmi, Il pensiero politico di Dante (Florence, 1922); C. Foligno, The
Date of the Monarchia (in Dante, Essays in Commemoration,
University of London Press, 1921); translation and commentary by P.
H. Wicksteed in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.” (f)
Epistolae. P. Toynbee, Dantis Alagherii Epistolae (The Letters of
Dante, emended text, with introduction, translation, notes, etc.,
Oxford, 1920); F. Torraca, Le lettere di Dante (in Nuovi studi
danteschi); E. Moore, The Genuineness of the Dedicatory Epistle to
Can Grande (in Studies in Dante, Series III.). (g) Eclogae. P. H.
Wicksteed, Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio (London, 1902); G.
Albini, Dantis Eclogae, etc. (Florence, 1903). (h) Quaesto de Aqua
et Terra. Edited and translated by C. L. Shadwell (Oxford, 1909);
ed. V. Biagi, with critical dissertation (Modena, 1907); E. Moore,
Studies in Dante, Series II. (Oxford, 1899); Wicksteed, translation
and commentary in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.”

E. The “Divina Commedia”

Editions with Notes and Commentaries
[The first three editions of the Divina Commedia were printed in
1472, at Foligno, Mantua, and Jesi. They were reprinted, together
with the Neapolitan edition of 1477, by Lord Vernon and Panizzi: Le
Prime Quattro Edizioni della Divina Commedia letteralmente
ristampate (London, 1858). The first Venetian edition is dated 1477,
the first Florentine 1481. There were about fifteen editions of the
Divina Commedia published before the end of the fifteenth century.
The first Aldine was printed in 1502. The two earliest dated
manuscripts, the Landiano (1336) and the Trivulziano (1337), have
been published in facsimile: Il Codice Trivulziano 1080 della D.C.,
with introduction by L. Rocca (Milan, 1921); Il Codice Landiano with
preface by A. Balsamo and introduction by G. Bertoni (Florence,
1921).]
La Divina Commedia nuovamente commentata da F. Torraca.
Milan and Rome, third edition 1915.
La Divina Commedia commentata da G. A. Scartazzini. Seventh
edition revised by G. Vandelli, Milan, 1914.
La Divina Commedia con il commento di Tommaso Casini. Sixth
edition renovated and augmented by S. A. Barbi. Florence, 1923.
Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, Italian text with English prose
translation on opposite pages, maps and notes, three vols., “Temple
Classics” (London). Inferno, Carlyle’s translation with notes by H.
Oelsner; Purgatorio, translation and notes by T. Okey; Paradiso,
translation and notes by P. H. Wicksteed.
Vernon, W. W., Readings on the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso,
chiefly based upon the Commentary of Benvenuto da Imola. Six
vols. (two on each part). London, new edition, 1906-1909.
La Divina Commedia, edited and annotated by C. H. Grandgent.
London, 1914.
La Divina Commedia nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare
commento, a cura di Guido Biagi. Turin, 1921, et seq.

F. Subsidiary to the “Commedia” and General.