Exergy efficiency analysis of a flat plate solar collector using graphene based nanofluid

The thermal efficiency of a flat plate solar thermal collector is largely affected by the thermal conductivity of the fluid used. In this paper, we theoretically analyzed the heat transfer performance, the entropy generation rate, and the exergy efficiency of the two different graphene based nanofluids (graphene/Acetone and graphene/water). From the analyses, it is revealed that by inserting a small amount of graphene nanoparticles in water, exergy efficiency could be enhanced by 21%, comparing to conventional fluids and entropy generation is decreased by 4%. However, the graphene/water nanofluid shows a lower entropy generation. This characteristic suggests that graphene/water nanofluid is a better candidate for flat solar thermal application.