Heat transfer innovations and their application in thermal desalination processes

Boosting the Viable Water Harvesting in Solar Vapor Generation: From Interfacial Engineering to Devices Design

“…Metal materials with high thermal conductivities, such as copper and aluminum, have been applied as condensers, enabling relatively fast heat transfer and water condensation. [132,137] Moreover, surface engineering of existing metal materials to manipulate the solid-liquid-vapor interfaces further promotes heat transfer and dropwise condensation. Thus, an invert-structured, single-stage solar distiller was elaborately designed and fabricated consisting of a top selective absorber and a honeycombed bottom water condenser.…”

Foaming photothermal inks for direct-ink writing: hierarchical design and enhanced solar-powered interfacial evaporation

“…Numerous research endeavors have been dedicated to the creation of effective, sustainable, cost-efficient and chemical-free technologies, increasing water availability from a variety of sources, including seawater, contaminated water and atmospheric moisture. 3–5 Advanced water purification methodologies, including reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash distillation and multi-effect distillation and so on, have witnessed substantial progress. Nevertheless, questions remain about the operational costs, effectiveness of water treatment, intensive maintenance requirements, possible secondary environmental impacts, and the suitability of these technologies for off-grid applications.…”

High Freshwater Flux Solar Desalination via a 3D Plasmonic Evaporator with an Efficient Heat‐Mass Evaporation Interface

“…[ 8 ] However, these seawater desalination technologies require large advanced infrastructure and high energy consumption (3‐25 kWh m −3 ) with high carbon emissions (2.5‐25 kg CO 2 −1 m −3 ) during operation, contradicting the concept of sustainable development. [ 9 , 10 ]…”

“…[8] However, these seawater desalination technologies require large advanced infrastructure and high energy consumption (3-25 kWh m −3 ) with high carbon emissions (2.5-25 kg CO 2 −1 m −3 ) during operation, contradicting the concept of sustainable development. [9,10 ] Solar-driven interfacial desalination is a sustainable and ecofriendly technology that utilizes solar energy to evaporate seawater and produce freshwater. [11][12][13] In particular, solar desalination demonstrates the unique advantages of low infrastructure costs and no costs, no energy consumption, and no carbon emissions during operation.…”