Experimental investigation of thermal stability and enthalpy of eutectic alkali metal solar salt dispersed with MGO nanoparticles

In this study, nanocomposites containing a pre-defined mass ratio of solar salt (NaNO3-KNO3: 60-40 wt.%) dispersed with magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles with nominal sizes of 100 nm were prepared in solid and liquid states. The proposed amounts of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate were added to certain amounts of ultrapure deionized (DI) water comprising a 5 wt.% concentration of MgO nanoparticles. Afterward, the prepared mixture was placed in a dry oven to mix in a liquid state to obtain well-dispersed nanocomposites. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) was conducted to evaluate the uniformity of synthesized, molten salt–based magnesium oxide–nanoparticles, revealing a uniform dispersion. Enthalpy and melting point measurements were performed using differential scanning calorimetry. The experimental results of solar salt–based MgO indicated decreases in melting point and enthalpy by 7% and 12.4%, respectively. The reduction of enthalpy indicated that, with the addition of magnesium oxide to solar salt, the final nanocomposite tends to have more exothermic reactions and enhanced thermal conductivity performance at the melting point. Lower melting points constitute one of the major concerns regarding molten salt–based nanofluids. MgO nanoparticles with a concentration of 5 wt.% have a melting point decreased by 7%. Mass loss and thermal stability measurements were conducted using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The experimentally acquired results revealed an increment of decomposition temperature from 734.29°C to 750.73°C, demonstrating the enhancement of thermal stability at high temperatures