Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Parametric analysis of energy and exergy efficiencies of a hybrid PV/T

system containing metallic nanofluids

n *

mez-Malago
Filipe L.J. Diniz 1, Caio V.P. Vital 2, Luis A. Go
University of Pernambuco, Polytechnic School of Pernambuco, 50720-001, Recife, PE, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: For a Si-Photovoltaic (PV) system, the incident solar radiation is not completely used for electricity
Received 24 June 2021 generation because a fraction of the incident energy is transmitted, and the other is thermalized
Received in revised form increasing the temperature of the solar cell. An alternative to minimize this problem is to use direct
27 November 2021
absorption solar collectors containing plasmonic nanofluids on the top of the PV solar cell to filter the
Accepted 30 December 2021
solar radiation. This Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) system has a global energetic efficiency that depends
Available online 3 January 2022
on the optical and physical properties of the nanofluid. Then, a parametric analysis of the energetic and
exergetic efficiencies of a PV/T system containing silver and gold nanoparticles was developed, and the
Keywords:
PV/T system
parameters set that optimizes the performance of a PV/T system were determined. For example,
Exergy considering that the global energetic efficiency of a PV system is 21%, for the optimized design of the
Nanoparticles proposed PV/T system, it increases to a maximum value of 52.45% (16.05% for PV and 36.40% for the
Plasmonics thermal system) using aqueous nanofluids containing gold nanoparticles of 10 nm diameter and 9
106
volumetric fraction and 0.0060 kg/s mass flow rate. It shows that metallic nanofluids can improve the PV/
T system performance.
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction energy close to the bandgap through the downconversion process

Solar energy is a renewable source that is used typically for
electricity generation and processes heat. To generate electricity,
the photovoltaic (PV) effect is explored to convert the photon en-
ergy coming from the sun into electric potential [1]. In the case of
semiconductors, the efficiency of this process depends on the
bandgap of the material and is around 22% for polycrystalline sili-
con solar cells [2]. The energy that is not used to generate electricity
is transmitted or absorbed, being the absorption responsible for the
increase of the solar cell temperature and consequently for the
decreasing of its efficiency [3]. Different approaches are reported in
the literature to improve the use of the solar spectrum for PV ap-
plications. For example, to stack up semiconductors with different
bandgaps making tandem PV solar cells, and to manage the solar
spectrum to convert photons with high energy in photons with
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lagomezma@poli.br (L.A. Go
mez-Malago
n).
1
Filipe L. J. Diniz is at Postgraduate program in Energy and Nuclear Technologies,
Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
2
Caio V. P. Vital is at Laboratory of Biomedical Optics and Imaging, Federal
University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
[4]. However, another alternative is to use the solar energy that is
not used by the PV solar cell to increase the temperature of a fluid
circulating in the rear part of a PV panel in a Photovoltaic/Thermal
(PV/T) system. This device was proposed initially in a PV system
cooled by air, and rapidly, the concept was extended to other fluids
such as water and ethylene glycol [5,6]. Furthermore, the concept
evolved to systems where the fluid is at the top of a PV panel. In this
configuration, the fluid works as a filter absorbing the IR radiation
that is not absorbed by the solar cell and absorbing part of the UV-
VIS radiation that could be absorbed by the solar cell and converted
into heat, letting pass only the radiation that can be converted
efficiently by the PV system [7,8]. To find fluids that attend these
requirements is a challenge that led to new PV/T designs where the
fluid flows in the top and the bottom of the solar cell [9]. A fluid
containing nanoparticles (NPs) (dielectric and metallic), which is
known as nanofluid (NF), is a candidate for PV/T applications due to
their physical and optical properties.
When a metal particle is exposed to light, and the particle size is
smaller than the light wavelength, the oscillating electromagnetic
field of the light induces a collective coherent oscillation of the free
electrons of the metal. The amplitude of the oscillation reaches its
maximum at a specific frequency, called plasmon resonance. At this

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.12.151
0960-1481/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

mez-Malago
F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
n
frequency, strong absorption of the incident light is induced in the
VIS region for plasmonic NPs like silver and gold [10].
NFs are extensively studied in the literature to improve the
performance of PV/Flat plate [11], flat plate [12], tube evacuated
[13], and DASCs [14]. NFs containing metallic NPs working as op-
tical filters are also studied in the literature showing their potential
for PV/T applications [15]. For example, the performance of a PV/T
system with Ag@TiO2 NPs was evaluated and the best performance
was obtained with a 200 ppm concentration [16]. Using Ag and
Ag þ CoSO4 NFs, Han et al. evaluated PV/T systems with particles
diluted in different base fluids, and these NFs showed satisfactory
results in a low concentration regime [17,18]. Also exploring Ag
hybrid NF at different concentrations, Hjerrild et al. showed the
overall performance of PV/T systems is better than the PV only
system [19]. Moreover, the efficiency of PV/T systems using Ag and
Au NFs with fixed concentration was evaluated by Saroha et al., and
experimental results presented good results for thermal and elec-
trical efficiencies [20].
Due to the plasmon resonance in the visible range, silver and
gold NFs are remarkable plasmonic materials for solar harvesting
applications. Although these materials are extensively explored in
the literature, the evaluation of PV/T systems with metallic NFs only
examines variations in the NP concentration. Thus, other parame-
ters such as NP diameter, mass flow rate, and NF channel thickness
are neglected in the performance analysis.
Therefore, there is a lack of information about the optimal
design that maximizes the efficiency of the PV/T system. In this
paper, a PV/T system using NFs containing spherical silver and gold
NPs is explored. Energetic and exergetic analyses are conducted,
and the parameters that maximize the overall efficiency are
determined.
2. Methods
2.1. Physical model of PV/T system
The proposed collector in this study has the configuration of a
DASC coupled to a PV solar cell, as shown in Fig. 1. In this
Fig. 1. Sketch of PV/T hybrid system.
52
Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65
configuration, the absorbed radiation by the NF is converted into
heat, and the remaining transmitted radiation is absorbed by the PV
solar cell to generate electricity [21].
For this device, the energetic and exergetic efficiencies were
determined by solving the coupled electrical and thermal models of
the PV and PV/T systems respectively, considering the physical and
optical properties of aqueous NFs containing silver and gold NPs.
2.2. Energy and exergy efficiencies
The thermal efficiency was evaluated to quantify the absorbed
energy by the NF, and the electrical efficiency was evaluated to
quantify the electrical energy delivered by the PV system. Both
thermal and electrical efficiencies can be calculated respectively, as
[22]:


m_ nf Cp;nf Tnf ;out  Tnf ;in
hth ¼ (1)
I0 A
Jmpp Vmpp
hel ¼ (2)
I0
where m_ nf is the mass flow rate, Cp,nf is the NFs specific heat, Tnf,in
and Tnf,out are the inlet and outlet NF temperature, I0 is the incident
solar radiation on the collector plane, A is the collector area, and
Vmpp, Jmpp are the voltage and current density of the solar cell at
maximum power point, respectively. Then, as the thermal and
photovoltaic collectors share the incident solar radiation, the total
efficiency can be written as:
htotal ¼ hel þ hth (3)
However, since electrical and thermal energies have not the
same quality level, the energy efficiency analysis method is not an
appropriate approach for PV/T devices because it does not differ-
entiate energy quality. Therefore, the concept of exergy is the most
adopted. For a PV/T system, the exergetic efficiency can be calcu-
lated as [23]:

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
n Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65

 
hex ¼ hex; electrical þ hex;thermal (4) 0 qEg
J0 ¼ K0 T 3=m exp  (10)
mkTpv
where hex,electrical and hex,thermal are the electrical and thermal
exergetic efficiencies, respectively. In this case, these exergetic ef- 2
fTpv
ficiencies are given by Ref. [24]: Eg ¼ Eg0  (11)
b þ Tpv
hel
hex;electrical ¼ 

4  (5) 
aa 1  4 a þ 1 a Rs ¼ Rs0 exp Bs Tpv (12)
3 i 3 i

 
! B
Rsh ¼ Rsh0 exp sh (13)
1  TTnfamb Tpv
;out

hex;thermal ¼ 

4 hth (6) where K0, m' and m are temperature independent empirical con-
aa 1  43 a
i þ 1 a
3 i stants, Eg is the band-gap energy of the solar cell semiconductor
material, Eg0 is the band-gap energy at 0 K, a and b are parameters
where the denominator in Eqs. (5) and (6) is introduced by Badescu of the semiconductor material [27], Bs and Bsh are specific co-
[24] to obtain an accurate analytical upper bound for the energy efficients for the semiconductor material (Bs, Bsh > 0), and Rs0 and
conversion. It is given by the reduced environment temperature Rsh0 are the series and shunt resistors at 0K.
a ¼ Tamb/TSun, and the interaction factor (i) as: The short circuit current density is due to the generation and
collection of light-generated carriers. For an ideal solar cell, the
 14 short circuit current density and the light-generated current den-
fH εH
i¼ aa (7) sity are identical. Therefore, the short-circuit current density is the
fa εa
largest current which may be drawn from the solar cell and is given
by:
where Tamb is the room temperature, TSun is the sun temperature
(5800 K), fH is the geometric factor of the solar concentrated radi-
lgap
ð
ation, fa is the geometric factor of the radiation emitted by the
absorber, εH is the dilution factor of the direct solar radiation, aa is Jsc ¼ q sðlÞ,EQEðlÞ dl (14)
the material absorbance, and εa is the material emittance. In this lmin
work, we considered undiluted blackbody radiation (εH ¼ 1),
unconcentrated direct solar radiation (fH ¼ 2.17∙105), hemi- where s(l) is the photon flux of the incident solar radiation and is
spherical radiation emission (fa ¼ 1), and selective absorber given by ASTM G159-98 [28], and the EQE (l) is the external spectral
(aa ¼ 0.9, εa ¼ 0.18) [24]. Another bound is obtained with i ¼ 1 and quantum efficiency of the solar cell.
aa ¼ 1 in equation (7), reducing the denominator in equations (5) Thus, the maximum power generated by the solar cell, Pmax, is
and (6) to the PLP model [24]. calculated using iterative methods that maximize Eq. (8). The so-
lution is given by the values of the voltage and current density at
the maximum power point (Vmpp, Jmpp). To calculate the PV cell
2.3. PV model parameters, the analyzed spectral range is selected between
lmin ¼ 280 nm and the Si band-gap, lgap ¼ 1100 nm.
The electrical power density generated by the PV solar cell, P, is
calculated according to the equation:
2.4. Properties of nanofluids
P ¼ J,V (8)
2.4.1. Optical properties
where J is the instantaneous current density and V is the voltage of The linear interaction of light with matter can be described
the PV solar cell. using the linear refraction index, n’, and the extinction coefficient,
Considering that the current density in the solar cell can be n”. Usually, the complex linear refraction index is written as the
calculated as a superposition of saturation current density and sum of the real and imaginary parts as n ~ ¼ n’ þin”. The linear
short circuit current density, the single diode model is the simplest refraction index is associated with the phase velocity and the
to represent the J-V (current-voltage) ratio of the PV solar cell, given extinction coefficient with the attenuation of the wave as it prop-
by Ref. [1]: agates through the medium [29]. It is important to note that the
    optical properties, and consequently, its optical response depends
qðV þ JRs Þ V þ JRs on frequency. Then, these coefficients are related to the optical
J ¼ Jsc  J0 exp 1  (9)
nkTpv Rsh behavior of NF under solar radiation excitation. It is well known
that when light passes through a homogeneous media, its intensity
where Jsc is the short circuit current density, Jo is the reverse is attenuated according to Lambert-Beer law. In our case, when the
saturation current density, n is the diode ideality factor, q is the incident solar radiation, I0, passes through a NF of thickness y, its
electron elemental charge, k is the Boltzman constant, Tpv is the intensity is attenuated as:
solar cell temperature, Rs and Rsh are the series and shunt re-
sistances, respectively. The inclusion of temperature dependence IðyÞ ¼ I0 eKnf ,y (15)
on reverse saturation current density [25], band-gap energy, and
series and shunt resistances [26] changes the profile of the J-V where Knf is the NF attenuation coefficient. As the NF is composed of
relationship, and consequently, the PV cell efficiency. The depen- a base fluid (water) and NPs, the attenuation coefficient can be
dence of these variables on temperature is given by: written as:
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n Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65

2

3
Knf ¼ Kbf þ Knp (16) knp þ 2kbf  2fv kbf  knp
knf ¼ 4

 5kbf (23)
where Kbf and Knp are the attenuation coefficients of the base fluid knp þ 2kbf þ fv kbf  knp
and NPs, respectively. For the base fluid, the relation between the
attenuation coefficient and the extinction coefficient is given by: where kbf is the base fluid thermal conductivity and knp the NP
thermal conductivity.
4pn}bf Finally, the NF viscosity, mnf, can be written from the Einstein
Kbf ¼ (17)
l equation [37] where mbf is the base fluid viscosity, thus:
where l is the wavelength of the incident solar radiation. On the mnf ¼ ð1 þ 2:5fv Þmbf (24)
other hand, the determination of the attenuation coefficient of
small particles is well described by Mie's theory [29]. In this theory, Models of the physical properties expressed in Equations 21e24
the attenuation coefficient is proportional to extinction efficiency, will be used into the thermal model to predict the performance of
Qext, and to the volumetric fraction, fv, which is defined as the NPs the PV/T system.
volume divided by the total NF volume, and inversely proportional
to the particle diameter, D, as:
2.5. Thermal model
3fv Qext
Knp ¼ (18) 2.5.1. Thermodynamical balance
2D
The mathematical model used in this study was obtained from
From this theory, the calculation of the extinction efficiency is
the First Law of Thermodynamics, using the energy balance equa-
given by the sum of terms involving the Riccati-Bessel functions, tion for each PV/T collector component shown in Fig. 2. The spectral
which are dependent on the size parameter, x ¼ pDn ~ bf/l. Consid-
profile of the incident solar radiation is modified after it crosses the
ering terms of order x4, the extinction efficiency can be written as: glasses and the NF, working as a DASC. Only the desired spectral

2   2  4  profile for the spectral response of the PV cell remains.
m~ 1 ~ 1
x2 m ~ þ 27m
m ~ 2 þ 38
Qext ¼ 4x Im 1 þ
m~2 þ2 ~2 þ2
15 m ~2 þ3
2m
( 2 )
2
8 ~ 1
m
þ x4 Re
3 ~2 þ 2
m
(19)

where the normalized complex refractive index is given by:

~ np n0np þ in}np
n
~¼
m ¼ (20)
~ bf
n n0bf þ in}bf

Then, the transmitted light through the NF is determined by

solving Equations 15e20.

2.4.2. Physical properties

The thermophysical properties of NFs such as density, specific
heat, thermal conductivity, and viscosity must be known to
describe the thermal behavior of the PV/T system.
The NF effective density, rnf, can be expressed analytically based
on mass balance using the conventional mixing theory, where rbf is
the base fluid density, and rnp is the NP density, thus [30]:

rnf ¼ ð1  fv Þrbf þ fv rnp (21)

The NF specific heat, Cp,nf, can be expressed as a mixture of the

NP specific heat, Cp,np, and the base fluid specific heat, Cp,bf, when
the phases are in thermal equilibrium, as [31]:
h i
ð1  fv Þrbf cp;bf þ fv rnp cp;np
cp;nf ¼ : (22)
rnf
Many theoretical models have been proposed to explain the
increased NFs thermal conductivity, such as formal models [30e32]
and empirical models [33e35]. Among these models, the Maxwell-
Garnett (MG) model [32] was chosen due to its simplicity and
because it has been successfully applied to explain the thermal
conductivity of composite materials at small volume fractions. The
MG model is applied when the base fluid thermal conductivity is Fig. 2. Control volume of the PV/T components: (a) glass 1, (b) NF, (c) glass 2, (d) solar
less than the NP thermal conductivity [36], and it is expressed as: cell.

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The energy balance equation for the system control volume is 2.5.2. Heat transfer mechanisms
given by: To solve the energy balance in the PV/T system shown in Fig. 2, it
is necessary to know the convective heat transfer coefficients at the
vU interfaces.
¼ Q_ in  Q_ out (25)
vt Glass - Air Interface.
The heat loss between the glass exposed to outside wind can be
where vU=vt is the rate of change in internal energy, Q_ in is the rate determined from the convective heat transfer coefficient at the
of energy entering the system, and Q_ is the rate of energy leaving
out interface of glass 1 with air, which is given by the following
the system. As we will consider the PV/T collector operating at expression [40]:
steady-state condition, the internal energy change is zero.
Considering that the refraction losses and heat transfer by hg;conv ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8Vw (32)
thermal radiation between the glasses and the NF are negligible, for
the unidimensional PV/T model, the energy balance is given by where Vw is the wind velocity.
equations (26)e(29) for each component shown in Fig. 2, as: Nanofluid e Glass Interface.
Glass 1 NF transfers heat to glass 1 and glass 2 by convection with co-
efficient described by:

 

hnf ;conv Tnf Tg1 þag1 I0 hg;conv Tg1 Tamb sεg Tg1
4 4
Tamb ¼0 Nunf knf
hnf ; conv ¼ (33)
(26) Dh
Nanofluid where Nunf is the Nusselt number, knf is the NF thermal conduc-

 tivity, and the quantity Dh is called hydraulic diameter, which is the

 m_ nf cp;nf Tnf ;in  Tnf ;out equivalent diameter of a round pipe which yields the same force
tg1 anf I0  hnf ; conv 2Tnf Tg1  Tg2  ¼0 balance as that for a non-circular duct. Since the NF is at laminar
A
(27) flow condition, the Nusselt number can be written as [40]:


Glass 2 Nunf ¼ 0:4328 1 þ 11:285fv0:754 Pe0:218 Re0:333 Pr0:4 (34)

 
hnf ; conv Tnf  Tg2 þ tg1 tnf ag2 I0  hg;conv Tg2  Tamb with

 (28)
 sεg Tg24 4
 Tamb ¼0 rnf cp;nf unf D
Pe ¼ (35)
PV cell
knf


tg1 tnf tg2 apv I0  Jmpp Vmpp  2hpv;conv Tpv  Tamb rnf Dh unf

 Re ¼ (36)
 2sεpv Tpv
4 4
 Tamb ¼0
(29) mnf

mnf cp;nf
where hnf,conv and hg,conv are the convective heat transfer coefficient Pr ¼ (37)
for NF and glasses, respectively. Tnf is the NF temperature, Tg is the knf
glass temperature, ag, anf and apv are the energy fraction absorbed
by the glass, NF and PV cell, respectively. s is the Stefan-Boltzmann and
constant, ε is the surface emissivity, tg and tnf are transmission
4Acs
coefficients for the glass and NF, respectively. It is important to note Dh ¼ (38)
p
that, as the glasses are assumed to be thin, the thermal conduction
resistances are neglected [38].
where Pe, Re, Pr, and unf are Peclet number, Reynolds number,
On the other hand, the electrical description of the PV cell
Prandtl number and NF velocity, respectively [41], p and Acs are the
operating at the maximum power point is obtained by a system of
  wetted perimeter and area of the cross-section, respectively [42].
equations, given by the equation (8) and by its maximum dV dP ¼ 0 PV Cell e Air Interface.
The PV cell transfers heat to the environment by convection
as:
with coefficient described in Eq. (33), and by radiation considering
2 0
1 3 that emissivity value (ε) similar to that of glass.
q Vmpp þ Jmpp Rs
Jsc  J0 4exp@ A 15  Vmpp þ Jmpp Rs  Jmpp ¼ 0
nkTpv Rsh 2.5.3. Model validation
The energy balance equations were validated in similar systems
(30)
by experimental results [39]. Furthermore, as the proposed PV/T
0
1 collector is composed by a DASC on the top of a PV cell, the vali-
  q Vmpp þ Jmpp Rs dation of the thermal model is conducted by comparing the present
qVmpp
Jsc þ J0  J0 1þ exp@ A work results with a previously reported numerical model for a
nkTpv nkTpv
(31) DASC. The thermal efficiency of a collector using Au NF with volume
2Vmpp þ Jmpp Rs fraction fv ¼ 0.005% is evaluated by using the present model and the
 ¼0
Rsh results are compared with a 2-D heat transfer model [43] for
different collector heights, and presented in Fig. 3. The numerical
where Jmpp and Vmpp are the current and voltage at the maximum model adopted in the reference is widely adopted in the literature
power point. [44,45], and is experimentally validated [46]. As shown in Fig. 3, the
55

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
n Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65

curves have the same trend, and differences about 5% were

observed between the models, showing that the present model
slightly underestimates the thermal efficiency of the collector,
indicating that the simplified model presented in this work can be
used to describe the thermal efficiency of the PV/T collector.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Spectral response

Fig. 3. Thermal efficiencies using [43] and the present work.
Silver and gold NFs were chosen because they have high ab-
sorption peaks due to plasmon resonance near to sunlight peak
irradiance in the VIS region. Thus, when the incident solar radiation
interacts with the NF, it absorbs radiation in the UV-VIS region and
lets the radiation pass between 723 and 1067 nm which is the
optimal spectral range for Si PV cells [47]. For comparison, the AM
1.5 solar spectrum, extinction coefficients, and the spectral profile
of the transmitted radiation after passing through a DASC con-
taining silver and gold NPs are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b) respec-
tively. From Fig. 4 it is observed that photons from the solar incident
radiation in the UV-VIS region are absorbed by the DASC as ex-
pected, and photons in the optimal spectral range are smoothly
absorbed by the NF filter letting the photons reach the PV solar cell
to generate electricity.

3.2. Efficiencies

As shown in section 2, many variables are involved in the

determination of the performance of the proposed PV/T device.
Then, parametric analysis using numerical simulations were per-
formed focused on the efficiency optimization, varying four key
variables: NP diameter, mass flow rate, NF channel thickness, and

Table 1
Values of the parameters used in this study.

PARAMETER VALUE UNITS

Constants to calculate the Si solar cell electrical response

n 1 e
K0 500 A K3/m2
m’ 1 e
m 1 e
Eg0 1.1557 eV
a 7.021
104 eV/K
b 1108 K
Rs0 4.6
108 U m2
Rsh0 153.92
104 U m2
Bs 0.0207 K1
Bsh 799.93 K
Constants to calculate heat transfer mechanisms
ε 0.9 e
Tamb 298 K
I0 1000 W/m2
Vw 1.0 m/s
Collector Geometry
A 1 m2
Length 1 m
Width 1 m
Thermal properties of metals [51]
rAg 10490 kg/m3
rAu 19300 kg/m3
cp,Ag 236 J/(kg K)
cp,Au 129 J/(kg K)
kAg 424 W/(m K)
kAu 315 W/(m K)
Properties of base fluid (Water) [51]
kbf 0.591 W/(m K)
Fig. 4. Spectral comparison between the extinction coefficient, the AM 1.5 incident
rbf 995.7 kg/m3
solar radiation and the transmitted solar radiation obtained after the incident solar
cp,bf 4178.4 J/(kg K)
radiation passes through a DASC containing (a) silver NF and (b) gold NF containing
mbf 0.8
103 Pa s
10 nm diameter NP, volumetric fraction of 0.00010, and 5 mm NF channel thickness.

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
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volumetric fraction.
The determination of efficiencies using Equations (1)e(6) re-
quires the knowledge of Tnf,in, Tnf,out, Jmpp and Vmpp. For the unidi-
mensional model Tnf,in ¼ Tamb and Tnf,out ¼ Tnf were considered [38].
The assumption of the outlet temperature equals to the average NF
temperature (Tnf) is conservative since it underestimates the ther-
mal performance of the PV/T system, and it is expected that it does
not significantly affects the PV performance. These variables were
calculated solving Equations 26e31 for Jmpp, Vmpp, Tpv, Tnf, Tg1, Tg2
using the MATLAB software.
Values of the parameters used in the thermal and electrical
model are outlined in Table 1.
3.2.1. Nanoparticle diameter
NP diameter is an essential parameter that influences the NF
optical response [48] strongly. In the first modelling stage, the
volumetric fraction (fv ¼ 0.0001), NF channel thickness (l ¼ 10 mm)
and mass flow rate (m _ ¼ 0.002 kg/s) were kept constant, and only
the NP diameter was varied from 5 to 50 nm, in order to analyze its
influence on the system efficiencies. The effect of NP diameter on
PV/T system performance is shown in Fig. 5 for silver and gold NPs.
From Fig. 5(a) and (c), it is observed that the total efficiency is
Fig. 5. Energetic and Exergetic efficiencies dependence on NPs diameter for a PV/T system containing (a,b) silver NPs and (c, d) gold NPs.
57
Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65
almost constant in the studied range of silver and gold NPs size.
However, it is observed that the thermal and electric efficiencies are
almost constant up to 20 nm, and for larger NPs, it increases the
production of thermal energy. It occurs because larger NPs increase
the absorption of light by the NF, increasing its temperature and
reducing the amount of incident radiation on the solar cell. Then, it
contributes to decrease the solar cell temperature, increasing the
electrical efficiency. In contrast, as less amount of light is coming
into the solar cell, its electrical efficiency tends to decrease. As the
optical effects are predominant, the electrical efficiency decreases
for larger NPs.
From Fig. 5(b) and (d) for the total exergetic efficiency, it is
verified for silver and gold NFs that it remains practically constant
up to NPs diameter around 15 nm, and for larger diameters, the
exergy related to the generation of electric energy decreases due to
the light scattered and absorbed by the NF, decreasing the photon
flux arriving at the solar cell. To avoid light scattering effects, the
diameter of the silver and gold NPs was kept constant at 10 nm for
the subsequent simulations.
3.2.2. Mass flow rate
The mass flow rate is a parameter that contributes significantly

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
n
to thermal energy production. In the second modelling stage, the
NP diameter (D ¼ 10 nm), NF thickness (l ¼ 10 mm) and a volu-
metric fraction (fv ¼ 0.0001) were kept constant, and the mass flow
rate was varied from 0 to 0.02 kg/s, in order to analyze its influence
on the system efficiencies. The effects of mass flow on PV/T system
energy efficiency are shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b) for silver and gold,
respectively. The effects on the system outlet temperature is pre-
sented in Fig. 6(c).
From Fig. 6(a) and (b), it is observed that the NF mass flow rate
weakly influences the electrical energy produced by the PV solar
cell because it does not change the optical NF properties but only
the heat transfer coefficients. However, from Fig. 6(c), the NF outlet
temperature decreases as a function of the mass flow rate since
high mass flow rates increase the NF velocity, making it stay for a
short time in the collector, decreasing solar energy absorption.
Despite the PV cell temperature decreases with the mass flow rate,
it does not affect the electrical efficiency significantly, as shown in
Fig. 6(a and b).
On the other hand, according to Equation (1), the thermal effi-
ciency is directly proportional to the mass flow rate. However, there
is an interplay between the mass flow rate and the outlet tem-
perature, making the thermal efficiency increases rather than
Fig. 6. Energetic efficiency dependence on mass flow for a PV/T system containing (a) silver NPs and (b) gold NPs. Outlet temperature (c) and exergetic efficiency (d) dependence on
mass flow rate.
58
Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65
decrease because of reduced outlet temperature. Due to this effect,
the exergetic efficiency is employed to understand the effect of the
mass flow rate in the thermal energy conversion. The effect of mass
flow rate on the total exergy efficiency of the PV/T system is shown
in Fig. 6(d).
From Fig. 6(d) is observed a maximum exergy efficiency. It oc-
curs because the thermal exergetic efficiency depends on the mass
flow rate and the NF outlet temperature. The thermal exergetic
efficiency is proportional to the mass flow rate, leading to rapid
growth for small mass flow rate values. However, as the mass flow
rate increases, the temperature decreases due to the reduction of
absorption rate of solar energy, increasing the negative term in the
Carnot efficiency as shown in Equation (6), leading to the existence
of a point of maximum thermal exergetic efficiency. For a high mass
flow rate, the exergetic efficiency decreases due to increased NF
velocity into the DASC, decreasing the light absorption rate. From
Fig. 6(d) the maximum exergetic efficiencies were obtained at
m_ ¼ 0.0042 kg/s for silver NFs and m_ ¼ 0.0054 kg/s for gold NFs as
highlighted by the dotted lines.
3.2.3. Nanofluid channel thickness
From the result obtained in the previous section, it was verified

mez-Malago
F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
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the existence of a maximum exergetic efficiency for a specific mass
flow rate value. However, the NF velocity depends on the mass flow
rate and the cross-sectional area, and the last one depends on the
NF channel thickness. Then, a dependence of the mass flow rate on
the channel thickness maximizes the exergetic efficiency. There-
fore, in the third modelling stage, the volumetric fraction
(fv ¼ 0.0001) and NP diameter (D ¼ 10 nm) were kept constant, and
the mass flow rate and the NF channel thickness were varied from
0 up to 0.02 kg/s and 20 mm, respectively. The effects of mass flow
rate and NF channel thickness on PV/T system performance are
shown in Figs. 7 and 8.
From Fig. 7 is observed that increasing the NF channel thickness,
the solar radiation absorption capacity increases, and consequently,
the thermal energy production is increased and the electric power
generation reduced. As shown, the increase in mass flow rate has
no significant influence on the electricity generation by the PV solar
cell. From the exergetic analysis of Fig. 8(aed), a mass flow rate
maximizes exergy for each NF channel thickness, highlighted by the
black line. Fig. 8(e and f) also shows that the outlet temperature
increases with the increase in NF channel thickness due to NF ab-
sorption of solar radiation. The mass flow rates that maximize the
total exergy efficiency as a function of NF channel thickness were
extracted and shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 7. (a, b) Electrical Efficiency and (c, d) Thermal Efficiency dependence on channel thickness and mass flow rate for silver and gold NFs.
59
Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65
3.2.4. Volumetric fraction
The volumetric fraction is another crucial factor that changes
the NF optical and thermal properties, influencing the efficiency.
For the last modelling step, the volumetric fraction dependence on
the NF channel thickness that maximizes exergy was calculated
using the previous results shown in Fig. 9, keeping constant NP
diameter (D ¼ 10 nm), varying the volumetric fraction from 0 to
0.001 and the NF channel thickness from 0.1 to 20 mm. The effects
of volumetric fraction and NF channel thickness on PV/T system
performance are shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
From Fig. 10(aed), it is observed that the combined increase of
the volumetric fraction and the channel thickness improves the
thermal energy production and decreases the generated electric
energy, even with a lower PV cell temperature. It occurs due to the
decreasing of the transmitted light to the PV solar cell, which is
predominant over the cell temperature reduction. On the other
hand, the total energetic efficiency shown by Fig. 10 (e, f) shows
regions of maximum efficiency at volumetric fractions and NF
channel thickness exergetically maximized as a function of the
mass flow rate. From Fig. 11 (a, b) the thermal exergetic efficiency
was calculated using the outlet temperature shown by Fig. 11 (c, d),
where it is observed a NF channel thickness value that maximizes
the outlet temperature for each volumetric fraction. From Fig. 11 (e,
f) it is observed that the total exergy has almost the exact value of

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Fig. 8. (a, b) Thermal exergy efficiency, (c, d) Total exergy efficiency, and (e, f) Outlet temperature dependence on channel thickness and mass flow rate for silver and gold NFs.

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
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Fig. 9. Mass flow rate dependence on channel thickness that maximize the total
exergy efficiency for PV/T system containing silver and gold NFs.
electrical exergy, due to the small value of the thermal exergy,
making the exergetic analyses inefficient in this case. It means that
the maximum exergy efficiency is obtained for low volumetric
fraction values for any NF channel thickness. Then, just to analyze
the influence of the volumetric fraction on the PV/T performance,
the volumetric fraction dependence on NF channel thickness that
maximize the available power were extracted from Fig. 10 (e, f), and
the results are shown in Fig. 12. As expected, for low volume frac-
tion values, the maximum energy efficiency is slightly influenced
for large NF channel thickness.
Then, from the presented analysis, it is possible to find a
parameter set of channel thickness, mass flow rate and volume
fraction that provide the maximum energetic and exergetic effi-
ciencies from Figs. 9 and 12. For example, these efficiencies were
determined considering NF channel thickness of 5, 10, 15 and
20 mm, and the results are shown in Table 2. The results show that
the PV efficiency is decreased from ~21% to ~16% using the DASC
containing NFs. In contrast, the overall energetic efficiency in-
creases to values greater than 44%. In general terms, it is observed
that increasing the NF channel thickness, the mass flow rate should
increase, and the volumetric fraction should decrease to increase
the thermal efficiency and slightly decrease the electrical efficiency
to optimize the overall energetic efficiency. Also, from the total
exergetic efficiency it is observed that for silver and gold NFs, it is
maximized for NF channel thickness of 10 mm, and the maximum
energetic and exergetic efficiencies were 50.64% and 57.52%,
respectively for aqueous NFs containing gold NPs.
3.3. Merit function
For an effective comparison between the stand-alone PV and
hybrid PV/T systems performance, a merit function (MF) [49] is
used:
61
Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65
w Pel þ Pth
MF ¼ (39)
w Pel;0
where w is the worth factor of electricity to thermal energy, Pel and
Pth are the electrical and thermal power outputs of the PV/T system,
and Pel,0 is the power generated in the base case, which considers
the PV/T system without NF. As the conversion of solar energy into
thermal energy is about three times higher than the conversion
into electric energy, the worth factor of 3 is adopted [50]. Values of
the MF greater than the unity are desirable for PV/T systems [18].
The hybrid PV/T collector using silver NF exhibits higher MF
values when comparing with gold NF with the same parameters, as
shown in Fig. 13. The influence of NP diameter on the MF is rep-
resented in Fig. 13(a), and the MF values show similar behavior to
the exergetic efficiency, being approximately constant up to 20 nm
and decreasing for bigger particles. Increasing the gold NPs beyond
35 nm leads to MF values below the unity.
As the mass flow rate increases, the MF values enhance and the
collectors using silver and gold tend to have the same performance,
as shown in Fig. 13(b). For low mass flow rate values, the MF de-
creases due to the lower thermal efficiency combined with elevated
NF temperature in the collector, which drops the PV performance of
the hybrid collector.
Fig. 13(c and d) depicts the behavior of MF with NF thickness and
volume fraction, respectively. Following the response of the total
exergetic efficiency from Fig. 11(e and f), the higher MF values are
obtained for low thickness and concentration scenarios, with a
balance between thermal and PV performances. For high collector
thickness and volume fraction, the NF absorbs most of the incident
radiation, reducing the PV performance. For the optimized values of
the exergetic efficiency (Table 2), the maximum MF obtained value
is 1.3 for a hybrid collector using gold NPs between 15 and 20 mm
channel thickness. Similar MF values were reported for PV/T col-
lectors with metallic NPs [18].
4. Conclusions
In this work, the energetic and exergetic efficiencies of a PV/T
hybrid system using aqueous NFs containing silver and gold NPs
were studied, varying the mass flow rate, volumetric fraction, NP
diameter and NF channel thickness. The results obtained in the first
stage of the simulations revealed that a NP diameter up to 10 nm is
best suited for maximum energetic and exergetic efficiencies. In the
second stage, considering 10 nm NP diameter, and increasing the
mass flow rate, it was observed a mass flow rate value that maxi-
mizes the total exergy. In the third modeling stage, considering the
10 nm NP diameter and varying the mass flow rate and NF channel
thickness, it was extracted the mass flow rate dependence on NF
channel thickness that maximize the total exergetic efficiency. In
the last modelling step, maintaining the NP diameter and mass flow
rate for maximum energetic efficiency obtained in the third step,
the volumetric fraction dependence on the NF channel thickness
was determined.
Therefore, for a 1 m2 (1 m
1 m) area PV/T hybrid collector
using silver or gold NF with 10 nm NPs diameter and for a given NF
channel thickness, it is possible to obtain the values mass flow rate
and volume fraction to maximize the energy efficiency, which can
reach up to 52%, which is higher than 21% for a PV solar cell

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
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Fig. 10. (a, b) Electrical efficiency, (c, d) Thermal efficiency, and (e, f) Total energetic efficiency dependence on volumetric fraction and channel thickness for silver and gold NFs.

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Fig. 11. (a, b) Thermal exergy efficiency, (c, d) outlet temperature and (e, f) total exergetic efficiency dependence on volumetric fraction and channel thickness, for silver and gold
NFs.

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n Renewable Energy 186 (2022) 51e65

occupying the same area, and the MF is higher than the unity. Then,
the presented results indicate that the appropriate choice of the
operating conditions of PV/T systems containing metallic NFs can
optimize its performance.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Filipe L.J. Diniz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,

Investigation, Formal analysis. Caio V.P. Vital: Conceptualization,
Methodology, Software, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing e

mez-Malago
original draft, Writing e review & editing. Luis A. Go
n:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis,
Writing e original draft, Writing e review & editing, Supervision,
Project administration.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing

Fig. 12. Volumetric fraction dependence on channel thickness that maximize the total financial interests or personal relationships that could have
exergy efficiency for a PV/T system containing silver and gold NF. appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Table 2
Maximum energetic and exergetic efficiencies for a PV/T system for different NF channel thickness and NP diameter of 10 nm.

Channel Thickness [mm] Mass Flow Rate [kg/s] Volumetric fraction Energetic Efficiency [%] Exergetic Efficiency [%] MF

hel hth htotal hex,el hex,th hex,total

BC e e e 21.46 e 21.46 68.16 e 68.16 1
Ag 5 0.0041 2.5
104 15.83 28.23 44.06 50.28 4.70 54.98 1.17
10 0.0043 9.8
105 16.16 29.45 45.61 51.33 4.92 56.25 1.20
15 0.0048 6.0
105 15.76 31.89 47.65 50.06 5.11 55.17 1.22
20 0.0052 2.6
105 15.47 33.40 48.87 49.14 5.18 54.32 1.23
Au 5 0.0050 5.4
105 16.53 31.94 48.47 52.50 4.92 57.43 1.26
10 0.0054 2.3
105 16.47 34.17 50.64 52.31 5.21 57.52 1.29
15 0.0058 1.5
105 16.29 35.49 51.78 51.74 5.30 57.05 1.30
20 0.0060 9
106 16.05 36.40 52.45 50.98 5.40 56.38 1.30

BC e Base case: PV system.

Fig. 13. Merit Function for different values of parameters: (a) diameter, (b) mass flow, (c) NF thickness and (d) volume fraction, under the optimization conditions.

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F.L.J. Diniz, C.V.P. Vital and L.A. Go
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Acknowledgement
[25]
The authors acknowledge the financial support given by the
Polytechnic School of Pernambuco - POLI and Fundaça ~o de [26]
^ncia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco e FACEPE,
Amparo a Cie
Coordenaça~o de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior- [27]
CAPES.
[28]
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