Effect of CuO, MoO3 and ZnO nanomaterial coated absorbers for clean water production

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the most powerful sources for many sustainable applications. Recently, efficient water distillation has attracted significant attention. The fresh water productivity depends on how efficiently the system harvests the incoming solar energy and converts it into useful heat. In the present work, nano-coated absorber plates (NCAPs) were examined in the single slope solar still (SSSS) for clean water production. The NCAPs were CuO, MoO 3 and ZnO, respectively. The CuO-NCAP was fabricated with the thermal evaporation method while the radio-frequency Magnetron Sputtering technique was used to fabricate the MoO 3 and ZnO NCAPs. The attained particle size of the CuO, MoO 3 and ZnO are 30-34 nm, 25-30 nm and 30-35 nm, respectively. The sphere (CuO), plate (MoO 3), and wedge (ZnO) like morphologies are identified with field emission-scanning electron microscope. All the NCAPs and reference solar still were tested under the same environmental conditions. The climatic parameters (solar influx, ambient temperature and wind) and SSSS's temperatures including water temperature (T w), internal air temperature (T int-air), inner cover (T ic), outer cover (T oc), and absorber plate temperature (T NCAP) were measured at 30 min intervals with the help of Type-J thermocouples. Herein, we present an evaporative heat transfer (h ew), efficiency, and cost analysis of the SSSS with CuO, MoO 3 and ZnO-NCAPs. Three different feed waters fetched from the surface well water, hill side well water and hill side pond water were used in this work for evaporation. The result reveals that the evaporation of conventional single slope solar still, CuO, MoO 3 and ZnO NCAPs were 2.1 l/m 2 day, 2.9 l/m 2 day, 2.7 l/m 2 day and 2.6 l/m 2 day, respectively.

Synergetic effect of absorber and condenser nano-coating on evaporation and thermal performance of solar distillation unit for clean water production

“…Daily variation of the irreversibility rates was determining using equations (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) and is presented in this section, as follows. Fig.…”

“…With pioneering advances in material science and nanotechnology in recent years, research has focused on improving the water generation potential of SS using coatings on the absorber and condenser to facilitate both evaporation and condensation. As absorber coatings, nano-SiO2, nano-TiO2, micro Cu, Al, and Sn were most widely used to date [11][12][13][14][15] to enhance the solar absorptivity and thermal performance of the SS. The nanoparticles coated surfaces exhibited excellent conductivity and increased the water generation rate of SS.…”

Exploring the potential of MXene-based advanced solar-absorber in improving the performance and efficiency of a solar-desalination unit for brackish water purification

“…With significant development in materials science and nanotechnology, various researches have explored the role of coating the SS absorber using nanoparticles for increasing the solar absorption and augmenting the water yield. Arunkumar et al [19] explored ZnO, CuO, MoO3 as coating materials for the solar absorber and examined their effects on the water yield of the SS. It was found that the CuO coated SS exhibited the highest water yield amongst all coatings tested.…”

A Systematic Indoor and Outdoor Study of the Effect of Particle Size and Concentration of TiO2 in Improving Solar Absorption for Solar Still Application

“…A maximum temperature of around 70°C has been reported in outdoor conditions (Kabeel et al, 2017). Other nanoparticles with different morphologies, i.e., sphere-shaped Cu 2 O, plate-like MoO 3 , and wedge-shaped ZnO, have been employed with increased surface temperature and water yield (Arunkumar et al, 2020).…”