Stability and Photothermal Properties of Fe₃O₄-H₂O Magnetic Nanofluids

Solar collectors are more efficient and commercial devices for collecting solar energy, compared to other solar energy utilizations. To improve the efficiency of solar collectors, it is important to prepare a liquid heat-collecting medium, which is stable and has high photothermal properties. Therefore, in this work, we develop a droplet-droplet mixing technique to prepare Fe₃O₄-H₂O magnetic nanofluid. The results show that magnetic nanofluids prepared using the droplet-droplet mixing technique have more stable performance and a better encapsulation of dispersants than those prepared via traditional liquid-liquid mixing. Then, the thermal conductivity and photothermal properties of Fe₃O₄-H₂O magnetic nanofluids are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The thermal conductivity and temperature of the magnetic nanofluid with Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles of a 1.0% volume fraction can reach the maximum value of 0.95 W/m∙K and 73.9 °C when the magnetic field strength is equal to the saturation magnetic field of 800 Gs. These findings provide insights into the potential applications of Fe₃O₄-H₂O magnetic nanofluids in direct absorption solar collectors, heat exchangers, automobile radiators, etc.