Enhancements in thermal properties of binary alkali chloride salt by Al2O3 nanoparticles for thermal energy storage

The cost-effective molten chloride salts are promising heat transfer fluids for next-generation concentrating solar plants. However, their limited specific heat capacities and thermal conductivities hinder their applications. In this paper, molten salt-based nanofluids based on a binary chloride (50 mol.% NaCl, 50 mol.% KCl) with Al2O3 nanoparticles were proposed to enhance the thermal properties. Firstly, molecular dynamics simulations were employed to investigate the thermal properties of these nanofluids, focusing on various nanoparticle volume fractions within 1100∼1600 K. The findings reveal that as the nanoparticle fraction increases from 0% to 7%, the specific heat capacity and dynamic viscosity improve by≈14.9% and 34.8%–38.6%, respectively. Concurrently, the thermal conductivity increases by 10.0%–16.5%. Then, microstructure evolution was analyzed to elucidate the enhancing mechanism of the thermal conductivity. Specifically, the negatively charged nanoparticle surface selectively attracts Na+ and K+, resulting in the formation of a compressed layer around the nanoparticle where the short-range order of ions was intensified. As a result, the compressed layer serves as a thermal conduit between the Al2O3 nanoparticle and the surrounding salt, resulting in the enhancement of the thermal conductivity. Furthermore, additional analyses of thermal diffusion properties and energy density distributions provide indirect evidence for the existence of the compressed layer where ionic motion is restricted, further validating the enhancing mechanism.