Freshwater-electricity co-generation in solar-driven water desalination: an effective approach toward the water-energy nexus

It is urgent to exploit the ability of water-energy co-generation technologies to address the challenges and opportunities for the water-energy nexus. This report presents a cuboid-shaped interfacial solar steam generator made of a selective solar absorber-coated aluminum sheet with filter paper str...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2022-10, Vol.1 (4), p.21273-21278
Main Authors: Wani, Tawseef Ahmad, Garg, Parul, Kaith, Priya, Bera, Ashok
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Aluminum
Boilers
Cogeneration
Desalination
Electricity
Energy storage
Evaporation
Evaporators
Filter paper
Metal sheets
Open circuit voltage
Saline water
Saline-freshwater interfaces
Sodium chloride
Solar energy
Solar energy absorbers
Steam generation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It is urgent to exploit the ability of water-energy co-generation technologies to address the challenges and opportunities for the water-energy nexus. This report presents a cuboid-shaped interfacial solar steam generator made of a selective solar absorber-coated aluminum sheet with filter paper strips attached to its four outer walls as the evaporating surfaces and water-conducting paths for simultaneous freshwater and electricity generation from saltwater (3.5 wt% of NaCl). Connecting all four strips in series, a device with an illumination area of only 1.5 × 1.5 cm 2 can generate an open-circuit voltage of 2.7 V with sufficient power to continuously glow an LED during evaporation, without any energy storage devices, in addition to an evaporation efficiency of 88%. For the first time, we could generate sufficient electricity from a single evaporator in a continuous manner to realize practical applications without scaling up, even in the dark. Our device promotes interface solar steam generation as a promising alternative to the solar-driven water-energy nexus. Conducting saltwater through filter paper strips to the evaporator surface of a solar steam generator produces sufficient electricity to run small electronic appliances continuously without any energy storage device.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/d2ta05998c