Experimental study of thermal conductivity and phase change performance of nanofluids PCMs

A new sort of nanofluids phase change materials (PCMs) is developed by suspending small amount of TiO2 nanoparticles in saturated BaCl2 aqueous solution. The resulting nanofluids PCMs possess remarkably high thermal conductivities compared to the base material. Cool storage/supply experiments conducted in a small apparatus have shown the excellent phase change performance of the nanofluids PCMs. The cool storage/supply rate and the cool storage/supply capacity all increase greatly those that of BaCl2 aqueous solution without added nanoparticles. The higher thermal performances of nanofluids PCMs indicate that they have a potential for substituting conventional PCMs in cool storage applications.