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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to numerically study the unsteady double-diffusive mixed convective stagnation-point flow of a water-based nanofluid accompanied with one salt past a vertical flat plate. The effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis parameters are also introduced through Buongiorno's two-component nonhomogeneous equilibrium model in the governing equations.Design/methodology/approach In the present explanation of double-diffusive mixed convective model, there are four boundary layers entitled: velocity, thermal, solutal concentration and nanoparticle concentration. The resulting basic equations are solved numerically via an efficient Runge–Kutta fourth-order method with shooting technique after the governing nonlinear partial differential equations are converted into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations by the use of similarity transformations.Findings To avail the physical insight of problem, the effects of the mixed convection parameter, unsteadiness parameter and salt/nanoparticle parameters on the boundary layers behavior are investigated. Moreover, four possible types of diffusion problems entitled: double-diffusive nanofluid (DDNF), double-diffusive regular fluid (DDRF), mono-diffusive nanofluid (MDNF) and mono-diffusive regular fluid (MDRF) are considered to analyze and compare them in concepts of heat and mass transfer.Originality/value The results demonstrate that, for a regular fluid, without nanoparticle and salt (MDRF), the dimensionless heat transfer rate is smaller than other diffusion cases. As we include nanoparticle and salt (DDNF), the rate of heat transfer increases due to an increase in thermal conductivity and rate of diffusion of salt. Moreover, it is observed that the highest heat transfer rate is obtained for the situation that the thermophoretic effect of nanoparticles is negligible. Besides, the heat transfer rate enhances with the increase in the regular double-diffusive buoyancy parameter of salt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]