A review of the use of nanoparticles on performance of solar stills

Abstract

The necessity of fresh water is growing day by day as the population and industrialization is increasing. As earth contains 71% of salinity water we have to convert that salinity water into fresh drinkable water. The device which converts salty water into drinkable water by using green source of energy that device is known as solar still. But due to its lesser efficiency it cannot be used in industrial purposes. To increase its productivity and efficiency many researcher has done improvement in various stills. Some researchers has used the nanoparticles due to their favourable thermo physical properties and optical characteristics. Nano particles and solid particles having the diameter in the range of 1 - 100 nm, are used from last two decades, and certainly a new approach among others. The ability of attaining the required thermo physical properties of nanoparticles, by the variation in the particle size, shape and concentration, rewarded them as one of focused area of research in the solar still. This paper contains the exhaustive review of literature on the utilization of nanoparticles in active and passive desalination system to investigate the best suitable nanoparticles for solar still. From review it was found that the efficiency and daily productivity of the still was increased by using nanoparticles in it.

Enhancing Solar Still Productivity: Use of Nanomaterials

“…It showed the use of pure nanoparticles and nanoparticles integrated with PCM; which helps in increasing the PCM thermal conductivity when compared to base fluids and has been chosen as the best suitable technique for increasing still productivity. A review paper published in 2021 [27] found that the efficiency and daily productivity of the solar still was increased by using nanoparticles in it. Another review [28] investigated experimentally the impact of combined utilization of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles, both in thermal energy storage unit and absorber coating, on the performance of a single-slope solar still.…”