An investigation into enhancing energy storage capacity of solar ponds integrated with nanoparticles through PCM coupling and RSM optimization

Solar energy is a promising renewable resource for meeting energy demands, with solar pond systems offering efficient thermal energy storage. Integrating Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and nanoparticles into solar ponds has shown potential to enhance energy storage capacity and thermal performance. This study focuses on optimizing the energy storage capacity of a solar pond system by employing Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to analyze the combined effects of PCM and nanoparticles integration. As input parameters for the optimization process, variables such as pond depth, salinity gradient, insulating materials, and solar radiation were taken into account. To maximize energy collecting and storage efficiency, the goal was to determine the ideal combination of these characteristics. To optimize the temperature distribution, Taguchi's L13 orthogonal array method and ANOVA were used. The results of the study indicate that the solar pond configurations with AgTiO2/Paraffin wax and CNT/Paraffin wax exhibited significantly higher energy storage capacities compared to the plain paraffin wax solar pond. Specifically, the AgTiO2/Paraffin wax solar pond showed an energy storage capacity increase of 7.48⁒, while the CNT/Paraffin wax solar pond exhibited an increase of 3.82⁒, in comparison to the plain paraffin wax solar pond. These findings highlight the substantial improvements in energy storage achieved by incorporating nanoparticles (AgTiO2 and CNT) into the paraffin wax as phase change materials within the solar pond system. The optimization study's findings showed that solar pond system performance has significantly improved.