Energy 183 (2019) 305e314

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

TiO2/water-based photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector: Novel

theoretical approach
Ahmad Fudholi a, *, Nur Farhana Mohd Razali a, Mohammad H. Yazdi b, Adnan Ibrahim a,
Mohd Hafidz Ruslan a, Mohd Yusof Othman a, Kamaruzzaman Sopian a
a
Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
b
Department of Electric Power Generation Stations, Network and Supply Systems, Institute of Engineering and Technology, South Ural State University, 76,
Lenin Avenue, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russian Federation

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

Article history: Nanofluids, which are new generation cooling fluids, have been found to improve the heat transfer
Received 13 February 2019 coefficient and enhance the system performance in recent years. In this observation, TiO2/water nano-
Received in revised form fluid (with 0.5 wt% and 1 wt% TiO2) is used as a coolant to investigate the photovoltaic thermal (PVT)
27 May 2019
collector under solar radiation intensities of 500, 700 and 900 W/m2 and mass flow rates ranging from
Accepted 22 June 2019
Available online 24 June 2019
0.012 kg/s to 0.0255 kg/s. At high solar radiation, the thermal energy efficiency is high but is inversely
proportional to the electrical energy efficiency due to the increment in PV surface temperature. The
energy efficiency of 1 wt% TiO2 nanofluid-based PVT collector is 85%e89% compared with 60%e76% of
Keywords:
Solar energy
water-based collector at 0.0255 kg/s. The improvement in exergy efficiency of 1.0 wt% TiO2 is 6.02%
Exergy analysis compared with that of water-based collector at the mass flow rate of 0.0255 kg/s. In addition, a new
PV panel cooling theoretical approach model is developed to compare the theoretical and experimental results of the TiO2/
Nanofluid water nanofluid-based PVT collector. Considerably close agreement between the new theoretical ap-
Titania proaches and experimental is obtained with an accuracy of 97.6%e99.2%.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction significant amount of the world's energy demand. The evolution of

The growth in the field of energy efficiency and renewable en-
ergy has brought stability to the negative impact of carbon emis-
sions as a result of increasing world energy consumption and the
reduction in major fossil fuel resources. Global awareness in the
exploration of renewable energy signals that renewable energy will
be an option in the future. Renewable energy ensures adaptation to
climate change, continuous energy supply, new job opportunities,
environmental health and energy delivery to remote areas. To date,
advances in the field of renewable energy bring impact to areas,
such as transport, cooling, heating and power generation in rural
areas. Nevertheless, renewable energy savings in each year are far
from the rate of achievement set because of on-going subsidised
payments to fossil fuels, involvement of low energy efficiency
technologies and costly installation. Solar energy is one of the
renewable energy sources, and this clean energy can meet a
* Corresponding author.,
E-mail addresses: a.fudholi@gmail.com, a.fudholi@ukm.edu.my (A. Fudholi).
renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, is a source of en-
ergy that provides benefits to the environment and clean energy
[1e3].
Solar systems can be categorised into two, namely, thermal
systems and photovoltaic (PV) technology. PV technology converts
solar energy into electricity for use in various applications, such as
water and space heating purposes, electrical use for home appli-
ances and solar drying. The efficiency of PV cell conversion from
solar energy to electricity decreases as operating temperatures
increase. PV thermal (PVT) has been introduced to overcome the
limitation of conversion efficiency of PV cell. This method is
commonly used for active cooling and can simultaneously provide
thermal energy and electricity. Previous research has reported that
the combination of both technologies in one system may reduce the
required space, the use of materials and the cost of installation.
Many experimental studies have focused on the size, arrange-
ment and type of fluid used for cooling in PVT. However, studies
that use nanofluid as a coolant is still at an early stage. The emer-
gence of advanced technology has enabled the production of
nanoparticles and their dispersion in the fluid, which called

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.143
0360-5442/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
306 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314

nanofluid-enhanced heat transfer process. Many researchers have various mass flow rates on the generation of electrical and thermal
found a significant increase in thermal conductivity even at a low energy is also evaluated. The overall energy and exergy outputs are
concentration of nanoparticles added in fluid [4]. Yousefi et al. [5] calculated from the thermal and electrical energy presented.
investigated the efficiency of flat plate solar water heater collector
by varying the mass flow rate and volume concentration of alumina
2. Theoretical approach
nanofluid. The results showed that the solar collector efficiency
increases at a constant volume concentration by increasing the
Fig. 1 shows the flow of incoming and outgoing water from
mass flow rate from 1 L/min to 3 L/min. Xu and Kleinstreuer [6]
collector tube section along dx along L. The wall temperature of the
revealed that PVT concentration by using nanofluid is more suitable
passage in PV and steel panel coating are considered uniform but
for silicon solar cell than by using multijunction solar cells, and the
different between both. The temperature distribution from the
overall energy conversion efficiency of the PVT concentration sys-
solar radiation on PV and steel tube are uniform. However, the PV
tem is higher than that of the conventional system.
panel and steel tube differ in temperature due to the difference in
Exergy analysis has become an essential tool in the system
material components. The thermal resistance of steel tube ranges
design, analysis and optimisation of solar energy systems [7e14].
from 6.135  10
5 to 5  10
5 (m2 K/W). Thus, the thermal contact
Studies on nanofluid-based PVT systems have been recently con-
is negligible because of the low thermal resistance.
ducted for energy analysis [15e29] and exergy analysis [20,21,29],
T f is the fluid temperature entering into the element that is
as shown in Table 1. Lari and Sahin [20] achieved a PV energy ef-
ficiency of 13.2% and an exergy efficiency of 65%e82% for a
nanofluid-based PVT system. Khanjari et al. [21] reported PV,
thermal and PVT energy efficiencies of 10%e13.7%, 55% and 90%,
respectively, and a PVT exergy efficiency of 15%. Sardarabadi et al.
[29] experimented on the effect of silica/water nanofluid on PVT
and found that the total exergy for 1 wt% and 3 wt% increases by
22.61% and 23.31%, respectively, compared with that for the PV
system with no collector. However, to the best of the authors’
knowledge and based on Table 1, limited data currently exist
regarding the new (non-conventional) theoretical study and exergy
analysis of nanofluid-based PVT collectors. The present study de-
rives the difference in temperature of inlet and outlet (To
Ti¼DT)
and the PV temperature from the mathematical model and validate
them against an experiment. The objective is to investigate the
efficiency of PVT collector by using titania (TiO2)/water nanofluid as
the cooling fluid in the energy and exergy analyses. The effect of Fig. 1. Temperature distribution along the flow of fluid in the collector [30].

Table 1
Performance of nanofluid-based PVT collectors.

Year Type of nanofluid Performance analysis and remarks Ref.

2018 Water-SiC The energy analysis results showed that the system with nanofluids as a coolant instead of water reduces the temperature of the [15]
PV module by 28.1% and increases the thermal energy by approximately 112.9 and the thermal efficiency up to 89.75%.
2018 Water-SiC, Water-paraffin The energy analysis results showed that nano-paraffin and SiC nanofluids are the best coolants amongst three methods. They [16]
wax/SiC yield the maximum efficiency as high as 13.32% compared with that of conventional PV with a value of 8.07%.
2018 Water-SiC The energy analysis results showed that the indoor test in thermal and electrical energies produces approximately 5.46% and is [17]
thus more efficient than the outdoor test.
2017 Water-Al2O3/CuO/SiC The energy analysis results showed that thermal conductivity increases as nanoparticles are added to water. The improvements [18]
in thermal conductivity are 4.8%, 3.42% and 1.96% for SiC, CuO and Al2O3 nanofluids, respectively.
2017 Water-paraffinn wax The energy analysis results showed that the system with paraffinenanofluid increases the electrical efficiency from 7.1% to [19]
mixed þ nano-SiC 13.7%, the power from 61.1 W to 120.7 W and the open circuit voltage from 11e13 V to 20e21 V. The system uses the thermal
energy gained because its thermal efficiency reaches 72%.
2017 Water-silver The energyeexergyeeconomic analysis results showed that a PV energy efficiency of 13.2% is achieved for nanofluid-based PVT [20]
collector. The use of silver/water nanofluid results in a maximum of 18% more thermal output.
2016 Ag/water, The exergy analysis results reported PV, thermal and PVT energy efficiencies of 10%e13.7%, 55% and 90%, respectively, and a PVT [21]
Alumina/water exergy efficiency of 15%.
2016 Water-SiO2/TiO2/SiC The energy analysis results showed that the system with SiC nanofluid has the maximum thermal and electrical efficiencies of [22]
81.73% and 13.52%, respectively.
2016 Ag-SiO2 nanodisk/water The energy analysis results showed the highest merit and an electrical efficiency of 6.6% [23]
2016 Al2O3, TiO2, ZnO/air 0.2 wt% The energy analysis results showed that ZnO/water and TiO2/water have higher electrical efficiency than Al2O3/water and water, [24]
each with an increase of 6.54% and 6.46% compared with PV.
The addition of nanofluid density increases the decreasing level of PV surface temperature.
2016 Ag/TherminolVP-1, Ag/water The energy analysis results showed that the D-1 tube system improves the efficiency by 5.8% for GaAs PV cells and 4.6% for silicon [25]
0.001e1.5 v/v% PV cells.
2016 Cu9S5/oleylamine The energy analysis results reported an increase in overall efficiency of 17.9% compared with that of PVT without nanofluid. [26]
2015 Fe3O4/water The energy analysis results showed that, for 3 wt%, the overall efficiency improves by 45% when alternating magnetic field [27]
(50 Hz) is applied; the overall efficiency increases up to 50%.
2015 SiO2/water The energy analysis results showed that the transmittance of the nanofluid with a particle size of 5 nm and 2 vol% can be as high [28]
as 97%, which is extremely close to that of pure water. The thermal conductivity of nanofluids with smaller nanoparticles is
higher than those with larger nanoparticles.
2014 SiO2/water The energyeexergy analysis results showed that, for 1 wt% and 3 wt%, the energy efficiency increases up to 3.6% and 7.9%, [29]
respectively. The total exergy values are 19.36%, 22.61% and 24.31% for water, 1 wt% and 3 wt% compared with those of PV
module.
 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314 307

located as far as x from the inlet surface of the PVT collector. Q dx is expressed as Equation (6) below:
the heat flux that enters the element from the PV panel and steel
tube layers. The water temperature along the x axis is considered U t ¼ hw þ hr;pv
a : (6)
dT
uniform ( dxf ¼ 0). On the output section (x þ dx), the average
The loss of heat energy from the bottom of the collector occurs
temperature of the fluid is [Tfþ dTf/dx(dx)]. The equilibrium equa-
when the heat on the surface of the insulator with Tb temperature is
tion for the element can be written as [30e33]
transferred through the insulation. Furthermore, the heat is

 transferred to the environment through convection and radiation.
dT f
mCT f þ QWdx ¼ mCT f þ mC dx ; (1) The heat loss coefficient at the back of the insulation Ub is as
dx
follows:

dT f QW kt
¼ : (2) Ub ¼ ; (7)
dx mC dt
Energy is assumed to be transferred to uniform waterways along
the waterway along L. Then, the average water temperature at the where kt and dt are the thermal conductivity and insulation thick-
output part can be obtained as follows by checking Equation (2): ness, respectively.
The energy balance constructed on PVT collectors with spiral
QWL tube-shaped collector after steady state is as follows:
T f ;o
T f ;i ¼ : (3) Energy balance on PV panels:
mC
Thus, useful energy transferred to the water stream can be    
ta ð1
hel ÞG ¼ U t T pv
T a þ hr;pv
b T pv
T b
expressed as  
 . þ At h1 T pv
T f (8)
Q ¼ 2mC T f
T f ;i WL (4)
Energy balance of fluid flow:
with    
 . Q ¼ At h1 T pv
T f þ Ait h2 T b
T f (9)
T f ¼ T f ;i þ T f ;o 2: (5)
Energy balance on the inner surface of the insulation:
The above-mentioned assumption can be used if the tempera-  
 
ture changes linearly along the channel. Experimental results Ac hr;pv
b T pv
T b ¼ Ait h2 T b
T f þ U b ðT b
T ins Þ (10)
indicate this assumption can be used for collectors not exceeding
10 m in length [30e33]. Energy balance on the insulation:

2.1. Energy balance for TiO2/water-based PVT with spiral absorber U b ðT b
T ins Þ ¼ hr;i
s ðT ins
T s Þ þ hw ðT ins
T a Þ (11)

The energy balance has reached the steady state if the solar
radiation overwriting the PV panels largely penetrates the panel
layer and is partly absorbed by the panel and partly re-reflected
into the environment. The radiation that penetrates the panel is
partially absorbed by the collector tube and partly by the water
passing through the collector tube. The collector tube becomes hot
and radiates some of the radiation to the cover panel and others to
the water in the convective route. Heat from the collector tube is
cooled by water through the drainage tube of the collector. The
remaining heat is absorbed by the insulation at the bottom. Fig. 2
shows a brief scheme of energy balance and transfer coefficients
involved in TiO2/water-based PVT collector.
The heat loss coefficient from the top of the PV panel to the
environment Ut is the result of air convection and radiation to the
sky represented by hw and hr,pv-a. The heat loss coefficient is
2.2. Completion of a mathematical model
Equations (8)e(11) will be solved simultaneously with the
matrix-shaped equations constructed below. Excel software is used
to aid the iteration process for completing a mathematical model
solution. The iteration method used requires some assumptions to
complete the mathematical model.
(i). The entire system is in good condition, that is, the temper-
ature of all parts such as PV panels, water flow and insulation
are independent of time.
(ii). The light intensity distribution is received equally on all
surfaces of the collector.
(iii). The side, lower and ambient temperatures and wind velocity
are constant.
(iv). The inlet and outlet temperatures of the collector tube differ.

Expected PV panel temperature (Tpv), fluid temperature (Tf),

surface temperature in insulation (Tb) and insulation temperature
(Tins) can be obtained by reciprocating matrices A and multiplying
them with matrix C.

½A½T ¼ ½C

Fig. 2. Energy balance model of TiO2/water-based PVT collector.

308 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314

2 3

4

 

6
7:26  10 t a
pv pv I þ U t þ At A h
pv 1 þ h
A A h
h 7
6 r;pv
b  . t pv 1  r;pv
b
0 7
6 At h1
2mCf WL þ At h1 þ Ait h2 Ait h2 7
6 0 7
6 
 h 
 i U 7
6 

Ait h2 þ Ub þ Apvi Apv hr;pv
b
h
b  7
6 Apvi Apv hr;pv
b Ait h2 7
4 r;ins
s þ hw 5
0 0 U b
2 3
6 Tpv 7
6 Tf 7
6
6 T 7
7
4 b 5
Tins

2 3 mw ¼ 0:00169
4:25263e
5xT w þ 4:9255e
7xðT w Þ2

6 .I þ Ut Ta
0:861tpv apv
7
6 2mCf WL 7
2:09935e
9xðT w Þ3 (14)
¼6
6
7
7 (12)
4 0 5 Water conductivity:
ðhrins
s þ hw ÞðTins
Ta Þ
kw ¼ 0:56112 þ 0:00193xT w
2:60152749e
6xðT w Þ2
Average temperatures of Tpv, Tf, Tb and Tins are initially set on the
basis of the environmental temperature (30  C above the ambient
6:08803E
8ðT w Þ3 (15)
temperature). The heat transfer and loss coefficients will be
Water density:
calculated on the basis of the set initial temperature value. There-
after, the matrix [A], [T] and [C] will be constructed. The reciprocal
rw ¼
0:6496T w þ 1057:1 (16)
of the resultant process temperature and the multiplication of the
matrix [T'] ¼ [A]
1[C] obtained will then be reused as the original The specific heat capacity and density of the prepared nanofluid
value of the reciprocal process and the multiplication of the sub- can be calculated from water and nanoparticle characteristics at the
sequent process repeats. The heat transfer coefficient will also bulk temperature from the equations given by [34e36]
receive a new value with the next iteration. The new mean tem-
   
perature value [T'] will be obtained on the iteration n þ 1 and 4 rCp np þ ð1
4Þ rCp bf
compared with the average temperature value on the n-iteration. Cpnf ¼ (17)
rnf
The tolerance value between the two iterative values is taken. The
iteration process is repeated until the average temperature toler-
and
ance value is less than 0.01  C. The simulation model that has been
developed in this section will be used in theory analysis to predict rnf ¼ 4rnp þ ð1
4Þrbf (18)
the outgoing temperature and overall PVT collector performance.
The major design parameters are given as APV¼Ai ¼ 0.66 m2, Dynamic viscosity of nanofluid:
At ¼ 0.41 m2, hr ¼ 0.125, L ¼ 12.15 m, kPV ¼ 237 W/mK, ki ¼ 0.033 W/  
mK, t ¼ 0.92, a ¼ 0.9, εp ¼ 0.9, εb ¼ 0.6, Ti ¼ 26  C and V ¼ 1 m/s. The meff ¼ 1 þ 2:5 fp mb (19)
results of this model will be compared with the results of experi-
ments in the lab. Nanofluid conductivity:

 
f 1:37 T nf 0:2777
knf ¼ kw 0:8938 1 þ 1þ
100 70
  (20)
dp
0:0336 ap 0:01737
1þ
150 aw
2.3. Physical properties of water and nanofluid

The physical properties of the water and nanofluid through the

collector tubes are assumed to be directly proportional to the fluid
temperature. Physical properties of water dependent on tempera-
ture can be expressed in Celsius units as follows [34,35]:
Specific heat capacity of water:
C w ¼ 4217:629
3:20888xT w þ 0:09503xðT w Þ2
2.4. Heat transfer coefficients
The heat loss coefficient at the top is the result of wind and solar
radiation represented by hw and hr, pv-a. The wind heat transfer
coefficient can be obtained from

0:00132xðT w Þ3 þ 9:415e
6xðT w Þ4
2:5479e
8xðT w Þ5 hw ¼ 2:8 þ 3:0V w : (21)

(13)
The radiation heat transfer coefficient from the PV panel to the
Dynamic viscosity of water: sky is calculated [37]
 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314 309

  
hr;pv
a ¼ εpv s T 2pv þ T 2s T pv þ T a : (22) hPV ¼ hr ð1
0:0045ðTPV
25ÞÞ; (31)

For the radiation heat transfer coefficient from the insulation to where hr is the reference efficiency of the PV module and Tr is the
the environment, the above-mentioned equation is used by cell temperature.
replacing Tpv subscripts to Tins. The sky temperature can be deter- The first law of thermodynamic focuses on the quantity of the
mined by energy, and the second law of thermodynamic discusses the
degradation of energy or irreversibility. Thus, exergy analysis is a
T s ¼ 0:0552T 1:5
a : (23) method used to calculate the useful work potential of a given
amount of energy at some specified state. This method uses the
The equation below, which involves StefaneBoltzmann co-
conservation of the second law of thermodynamics for the analysis,
efficients, is used to determine the radiation heat transfer coeffi-
design and improvement in energy (and other) systems. Exergy
cient in the air cavity. T1 and T2 represent the surface involved in
analysis is useful in achieving the goal of efficient energy use
this process.
because it enables us to determine the location, type and magni-
  1
1
1
tude of wastes and losses. Exergy analysis can indicate whether or
hr;1
2 ¼ sðT 1 þ T 2 Þ T 21 þ T 22 þ (24) not and by how much a design of the energy system can be made
εpv εpv efficient by reducing the inefficiencies in the system [30e32].
The convection heat transfer coefficient between the tube and However, to precisely evaluate the system efficiency, the exergy
the fluid and between the fluids with the back of the insulator is efficiency must be calculated using exergies for thermal and PV
obtained from the following equation: (electrical). Thermal energy cannot produce work until a temper-
ature difference exists between the heat source and sink, whereas
Nukf electrical energy can be completely transformed into work. The
hconv ¼ : (25) exergy analysis includes Carnot efficiency for a qualitative and
dn
standardised evaluation of the hybrid performance. The overall
For water and nanofluid, the Nusselt number is determined exergy output of the PVT collector can be expressed in the form
from the following correlation for the laminar flow at concentra- assuming that the effects due to the potential and kinetic energy
tions of 0.3%≪f2.0% and 800 < Re<2400 [38]: changes are insignificant, and the general exergy balance can be
  expressed as follows [30e32]:
Nu ¼ 0:4328 1:0 þ 11:285f0:754 Pe0:218 Re0:333 Pr 0:4
nf : (26)
d nf X X X X X X
Exi
Exo ¼ Exd or Exi
ðExth þ ExPV Þ ¼ Exd ;
For the flow at a concentration of 0.3%<4<2.0% and
10000 < Re<25000, the following equation is used: (32)
 
where
Nu ¼ 0:0059 1:0 þ 7:6286f0:6886 Pe0:001
d Re0:9238
nf Pr 0:4
nf : (27)
"   #
4 Ta 1 Ta 4
Exi ¼ ANI 1
þ ; (33)
3 Ts 3 Ts
2.5. Energy and exergy analyses
ExPV ¼ hPV AI; (34)
Energy and exergy analyses are used to evaluate the overall
performance of the PVT collector. The two analyses measure the 
Ta þ 273
quantity and quality, respectively. The energy analysis comprises Exth ¼ Qu 1
; (35)
thermal and electrical efficiencies. The ratio of electrical and ther- To þ 273
mal energy gain to the solar radiation incident on the PVT collector
where Ta, To and Ts are the ambient, outlet and sky temperatures
describes the efficiencies. The energy analysis reveals that the
(Ts ¼ 5777 K), respectively. A, N and I are the area of PV and numbers
overall efficiency of PVT hPVT as the sum of the solar collector
thermal efficiency hth and that of PV as the electrical efficiency and
hPV are used to evaluate the PVT performance written as follows:

hPVT ¼ hth þ hPV (28)

The thermal efficiency of flat plate PVT collector is a ratio of the
useful thermal energy Qu to the overall incidence irradiations I and
area A.

Qu
hth ¼ (29)
IA
The heat collected by the flat plate PVT collector can be
_ heat capacity
measured by the result of average mass flow rate m,
of flowing medium Cp and temperature difference of the medium at
the collector inlets ti and outlets to .

_ p ðto
ti Þ
Qu ¼ mC (30)
The electrical efficiency of the PV module is a function of tem-
perature given by Fig. 3. Photograph of setup of TiO2/water nanofluid-based PVT under a solar simulator.
310 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314

Fig. 4. Schematic of setup of TiO2/water nanofluid-based PVT under a solar simulator.

of PV and irradiations. The exergy efficiency of a PVT water collector was circulated around the system by using the pump and heat
is calculated as follows: exchanger utilised for cooling the fluid in the closed loop system.
The cooling fluids used in this experiment were water and TiO2/
Exo Ex water (with 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% TiO2). Nanofluids were prepared
hEx;PVT ¼ ¼ 1
d: (36)
Exi Exi with a sonicator and added with a stabiliser. The sonication for
dispersing nanoparticles in distilled water was approximately 1 h.
The zeta potential was used to examine the stability of the prepared
nanofluid.
3. Materials and methods
4. Results and discussion
Figs. 3 and 4 show the photograph and schematic of setup of the
PVT collector during the indoor experiment under solar simulator. TiO2/water nanofluids are tested at different concentrations and
A standard polycrystalline 80 W PV module, which was represented temperatures to determine their physical properties. Fig. 5 shows
as a flat plate unglazed sheet, was attached at the top. The collector the increment in thermal conductivity of nanofluid with the in-
made up of a single unilateral channel for the fluid to flow was creases in concentration and temperature. The thermal
inserted underneath the PV module. The width and length of PVT
collector surface were 0.55 and 1.2 m, respectively. K-type ther-
mocouple with data logger was used to collect the inlet and outlet
fluids and measure the PV panel surface temperature. The change
in temperature during the experiment can be tracked and recorded
in a short step time (1 min). The total incident radiation on the
system was measured by a pyranometer. A flow metre (1e4 G/M)
was mounted at the opening of fluid inlet to control the mass flow
rate. The experiment was conducted under an indoor testing fa-
cility by using a solar simulator. The simulator consisted of 40
halogen lamps, and the intensity of solar radiation was controlled
by a variable voltage controller. The PVT collector had been exposed
to the solar radiation level of 900 W/m2 for 40 min before collecting
the data to ensure the equilibrium state of radiation. The change in
voltage was recorded using electric load under various mass flow
rates and volume concentrations of the nanofluid. The mass flow
rate was set to the range of 0.01e0.0255 kg/s, and the working fluid
was changed from pure water to TiO2/water. The system tempera-
ture was measured from the thermocouple stored in the ADAM
Data Acquisition System every 1 min and was later used to calculate
the electrical and thermal efficiencies for the collector. The fluid Fig. 5. Thermal properties of TiO2 nanofluid.
 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314 311

Fig. 8. Comparison of experimental efficiency and model with various mass flow rates
at a radiation intensity of 700 W/m.2.
Fig. 6. Experimental and theoretical temperatures of 1.0 wt% TiO2/water nanofluid-
based PVT with various mass flow rate rates at a radiation intensity of 500e900 W/m2

Table 2
Experimental and theoretical temperatures of 1.0 wt% TiO2/water nanofluid-based
PVT with various mass flow rate rates at a radiation intensity of 500e900 W/m2

_ (kg/s)
m Different temperature, DT ( C) Error (%)
S (W/m2)
Experimental Theoretical

500 0.012 4.03 4.11 2.05

0.017 3.02 3.11 3.08
0.020 2.69 2.74 2.10
0.025 2.23 2.28 2.22
700 0.012 6.08 6.09 0.32
0.017 4.46 4.60 3.33
0.020 3.92 4.07 3.80
0.025 3.35 3.35 0.19
900 0.012 8.33 8.15 2.12
0.017 6.15 6.14 0.16
0.020 5.46 5.39 1.23 Fig. 9. Comparison of experimental efficiency and model with various mass flow rates
0.025 4.52 4.46 1.40 at a radiation intensity of 700 W/m.2.

radiation changes from 700 W/m2 to 900 W/m2. Fig. 6 and Table 2
show the change in temperature of the fluid generated from the
difference in temperature of inlet and outlet (To
Ti¼DT) of exper-
iments and compared with theoretical studies. The experimental
results show that, in all the intensity of radiation, the temperature
change decreases with the addition of mass flow rate. The research
in the lab indicates that the fluid temperature change decreases
from 4.03  C to 2.23  C when the mass flow rate increases from
0.02 kg/s to 0.0255 kg/s at an intensity of 500 W/m2. Furthermore,

Table 3
PV temperature of experimental 1.0% wt TiO2/water-based PVT collectors and
models with various mass flow rate rates at a radiation intensity of 500e900 W/m.2.

S (W/m2) _ (kg/s)
m PV temperature, Tpv ( C) Error (%)
Fig. 7. Comparison of experimental efficiency and model with various mass flow rates
Experimental Theoretical
at a radiation intensity of 500 W/m.2.
500 0.012 51.41 51.66 0.48
0.017 51.28 51.35 0.13
conductivity of 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% is enhanced up to 4.03% and 0.020 51.02 51.19 0.32
0.025 50.59 50.92 0.67
5.75% compared with that of water. For the density and viscosity of
700 0.012 59.50 62.06 4.12
TiO2/water nanofluid, both decrease as either temperature or 0.017 58.67 61.63 4.79
concentration increases. The higher thermal conductivity of 0.020 58.29 61.27 4.86
nanofluid results in higher difference in fluid inlet and outlet than 0.025 57.80 61.06 5.33
when water is used as the working fluid. 900 0.012 68.40 71.97 4.97
0.017 68.07 71.44 4.72
In this study, the effect of solar radiation and mass flow rate 0.020 67.35 71.18 5.38
levels on the performance of PVT collector is obtained. The 0.025 66.91 70.74 5.42
312 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314

at intensities of 700 and 900 W/m2, fluid changes decrease from

6.08  C to 3.35  C and from 8.33  C to 4.52  C in the same range of
mass flow rate. The average errors obtained from fluid temperature
change are 2.36%, 1.89% and 1.23% for the radiation intensities of
500, 700 and 900 W/m2, respectively. Fluid changes are highest at
low flow rates and highest intensities, as recorded in Table 2.
Specifically, the fluid change is 8.33  C at a mass flow rate of
0.012 kg/s and a radiation intensity of 900 W/m2.
Comparison of PVT collector efficiency studied in laboratories
and in theory is conducted to prove the validity of the theory.
Figs. 7e9 show the energy efficiency of the 1.0% wt TiO2/water-
based PVT collector from the experiments and models at the in-
tensities of 500, 700 and 900 W/m2 with the modified mass flow
rate. Comparison of data is the experimental result of PVT collector
of 1.0 wt% TiO2 nanofluid at a flow rate of 0.012e0.025 kg/s. The
experimental results and theoretical studies show that the effi- Fig. 11. Thermal and electrical efficiencies with mass flow rate and different nanofluid
ciency of PVT collectors increases with the increase in airflow rate. concentrations at a radiation intensity of 700 W/m.2.
The relative error is derived from the difference in experimental
and theoretical efficiencies and is divided by experimental
efficiency.
The efficiencies obtained from experiments at 500, 700 and
900 W/m2 with mass flow rate are 74.24%e85.37%, 78.69%e88.42%
and 79.00%e89.74%, respectively. The theoretical efficiencies are
72.77%e83.77%, 75.83%e87.00% and 77.86%e89.06%. The results
show a small error when the model is compared with the experi-
ment. The average relative error of the PVT collector efficiency at
500 W/m2 is 1.74%, as shown in Table 3. The average errors of the
PVT collector efficiency at the radiation intensities of 700 and
900 W/m2 are 1.98% and 0.79%, respectively.
Figs. 10e12 show the thermal efficiency changes due to the in-
crease in mass flow rate. As shown in Fig. 10, the mass flow rate
changes from 0.012 kg/s to 0.0255 kg/s, which reflects the increase
in the thermal efficiency from 52.56% to 59.06% for water-based
PVT collectors at 500 W/m2. The increases in thermal efficiency Fig. 12. Thermal and electrical efficiencies with mass flow rate and different nanofluid
from 60.06% to 70.5% and from 63.32% to 74.40% are recorded for concentrations at a radiation intensity of 900 W/m.2.
TiO2 nanofluid collector with 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt%, respectively. The
thermal efficiencies recorded by water fluid at a mass flow rate of
0.0255 kg/s for 500, 700 and 900 W/m2 are 59.06%, 64.22% and The decrease in PV surface temperature is from 67.54  C to 66.90  C,
66.19%, respectively. The highest increase in thermal efficiency of which is only a reduction of 1% in surface temperature. The fluid
13.5%e15.3% compared with that of water is recorded by 1.0 wt% temperature change increases by 4% from 4.34  C to 4.52  C and
TiO2 below the intensity of 500e900 W/m2. The highest thermal contributes to the increased thermal efficiency compared with the
efficiency is followed by that of 0.5 wt% TiO2 with increments electrical efficiency. The thermal efficiency increases by 3.86%
ranging from 10.5% to 11.4%. compared with the electricity efficiency with an increase of only
For TiO2 nanofluid, the change in electrical efficiency only in- 0.3% when the concentration increases from 0.5 wt% to 1.0 wt%.
creases slightly when the concentration of nanofluid is increased. Therefore, the thermal efficiency increases significantly with the
addition of nanofluid concentrations.
The energy analysis shows that the combined efficiency of PVT
collector hpvt is the total thermal and PVT collector efficiencies. The
thermal and electrical efficiencies obtained from experiments in-
crease with the increase in mass flow rate. Therefore, the overall
efficiency of the PVT collector increases with the increase in mass
flow rate. Table 4 shows the efficiency of PVT under 500, 700 and
900 W/m2 at a fluid content of 0.012e0.0255 kg/s. The overall ef-
ficiency of PVT at a mass flow rate of 0.012e0.0255 kg/s and a ra-
diation intensity of 500 W/m2 increases from 63.45% to 69.97% for
water collectors.
The overall efficiency of the PVT collector increases with an in-
crease in radiation intensity of 900 W/m2 and a mass flow rate of
0.025 kg/s. The efficiencies of PVT water and nanofluid increase by
5.32% and 4.37%, respectively, for 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% TiO2.
The cooling efficiency of the PVT collector with nanofluid is
higher than that of the PVT collector using water. The increases in
the overall energy efficiency of TiO2 nanofluid compared with those
of water at a radiation intensity of 900 W/m2 are 14.11% and 18.04%
Fig. 10. Thermal and electrical efficiencies with mass flow rate and different nanofluid
concentrations at a radiation intensity of 500 W/m.2. for 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt%, respectively. The enhancement in
 A. Fudholi et al. / Energy 183 (2019) 305e314 313

Table 4
PVT energy and exergy efficiencies of PVT collector at various mass flow rates and radiation intensities.

Fluids Mass flow rate (kg/s) 500 700 900

hpvt (%) hxpvt (%) hpvt (%) hxpvt (%) hpvt (%) hxpvt (%)
Water 0.012 63.45 12.89 67.34 12.77 69.59 12.64
0.017 64.88 12.79 71.51 12.61 72.82 12.33
0.020 66.56 12.77 74.01 12.63 74.07 12.23
0.0255 69.97 12.75 74.62 12.49 76.03 12.12
0.5 wt% TiO2 0.012 70.96 13.21 75.21 13.08 74.70 13.08
0.017 74.58 13.10 77.02 12.88 78.46 12.75
0.020 77.94 13.11 79.47 12.85 81.08 12.73
0.0255 81.44 13.07 84.32 12.85 86.75 12.72
1.0 wt% TiO2 0.012 74.24 13.29 78.69 13.37 79.00 13.41
0.017 78.19 13.16 79.54 13.12 82.24 13.02
0.020 81.30 13.16 82.04 13.07 85.49 12.99
0.0255 85.37 13.15 88.42 13.10 89.74 12.89

nanofluid efficiency is due to its higher thermal conductivity than
water. The equation of heat transfer coefficient indicates that high
thermal conductivity values will result in high heat transfer rates.
5. Conclusions
The effects of nanofluid on the efficiency, energy and exergy
output of a PVT collector under two solar radiations were investi-
gated. The increase in mass flow rate enhances the PVT collector
performance. The thermal efficiency of 1.0 wt% TiO2 nanofluid-
based PVT increases by 10.54% and 12.77% compared with that of
water-based collector for the radiation intensities of 700 and
900 W/m2, respectively. The improvements in exergy output for the
solar radiation level of 0.5 wt% TiO2/water are 1.2% and 4.95%,
whereas those for 1.0 wt% TiO2/water are 4.04% and 6.31%,
respectively, compared with those for water-based collector. As a
result, nanofluids used in this experiment significantly improve the
thermal performance of the PVT collector.
The increase in mass flow rate increases the thermal and elec-
trical energy efficiencies and overall performance of PVT collector.
The higher heat transfer coefficient in nanofluid than that in water
increases the cooling process rate and reduces the surface tem-
perature of the PV module effectively. However, high concentra-
tions of nanofluid have more significant effect on thermal efficiency
than electrical efficiency. The change in electrical efficiency only
increases slightly when the TiO2 nanotechnology fluid concentra-
tion is increased from 0.5 wt% to 1.0 wt%. The decrease in PV surface
temperature is from 67.54  C to 66.90  C, which is only a reduction
of 1% in surface temperature. The electrical efficiency is higher than
the thermal efficiency due to the lower energy input of the former
than the latter. The thermal efficiency also decreases with the in-
crease in fluid flow rate but slightly increases with the increase in
radiation intensity. The external temperature of the fluid is too low,
which results in its low thermal energy quality.
The results of the mathematical model theory analysis on the
performance of TiO2/water-based PVT collectors from experiments
are in line with the theoretical results. These results are still in the
acceptable error range of 0.79%e2.36%. The mathematical model
can only be used to determine the performance of the PVT collector
when the collector reaches a steady state.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publi-
cation of this manuscript (TiO2/water-based photovoltaic thermal
(PVT) collector: Novel theoretical approach). This manuscript has
not been published and is not considered for publication elsewhere.
The authors certify that neither the manuscript nor its main
contents have already been published or submitted for publication
in another journal.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
(UKM) for funding under grant nos. FRGS/1/2014/ST02/UKM/03/1
and GGP-2017-045 and Prof. Dr. Zahari Ibrahim for allowing indoor
testing in the Physics Laboratory (Solar Simulator Lab) and the Solar
Energy Research Institute of UKM.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.143.
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