Investigation of a novel (GO@CuO.γ-Al₂O₃) hybrid nanocomposite for solar energy applications

A novel hybrid nanomaterial (HNM) (GO@CuO.γ-Al₂O₃) was manufactured where the thermal and electrical performances were comprehensively appraised investigated. The combination nanomaterial (NM) was achieved through the loading of Graphene oxide nanosheet (GO) with other NMs quantum dots (QDs); namely: Copper oxide (CuO) nanorod, and Aluminum oxide (γ-Al₂O₃) nanoparticles (NPs). X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Zeta potential were employed to characterize properties of the fabricated nanomaterials. The results confirmed the formation and loading of NM QDs successfully on the GO surface. Different nanofluids were prepared from mono NMs (GO, CuO, and γ-Al₂O₃), and hybrid NMs (GO@CuO, GO@γ-Al₂O₃, and GO@CuO. γ-Al₂O₃) with water as base fluid, aiming to evaluate the thermal conductivity. Different concentrations of the nanofluids (0.0625, 0.125, and 0.2%) were investigated within a temperature range of 20–50 °C. For (GO@CuO.γ-Al₂O₃), compared to water, maximum enhancement in thermal conductivity (22.56%) was achieved with 0.2% concentration and 50 °C. These results indicate that GO@CuO.γ-Al₂O₃ as nanofluid is very favorable for solar collector heaters. The current-voltage (I–V) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were performed to investigate photocurrent generation and the electron-hole pair recombination. The results showed that GO@CuO nanocomposite has more ability to produce photocurrent rather than the other nanocomposites, where the current of GO@CuO nanocomposites is higher than GO@Al₂O₃·CuO nanocomposite. GO@CuO nanocomposite has the lowest PL intensity, which shows lower charge carrier recombination and higher light harvesting. The I–V and PL results indicate that GO@CuO nanocomposite is a gifted material for solar cell applications. Consequently, GO@Al₂O₃·CuO and GO@CuO nanocomposites are very promising candidates with higher performance for solar energy applications.