Interfacial Solar‐to‐Heat Conversion for Desalination

By Huidong Liu, Zhi Huang, Kang Liu, Xuejiao Hu, J. Zhou. Advanced Energy Materials, 2019

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Solar desalination is a promising and sustainable solution for water shortages in the future. Interfacial solar‐to‐heat conversion for desalination has attracted increasing attention in the past decades, due to the heat localization induced high thermal efficiency, simple structure, and low cost. In this review, the authors summarize and analyze the critical processes involved in such a solar desalination system, including the thermal conversion and transport, salt dissipation, and vapor manipulation. Mathematical models of heat transfer and salt dissipation are also built for quantitative analysis of systematic performance relative to properties of employed materials and system designs. Recent efforts devoted to improving the overall thermal efficiency, salt rejection, and water yield are then summarized. Based on the analysis and previous results, opportunities for further interfacial solar desalination development are highlighted.

Subfields: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Water Science and Technology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5769e62b5e5979eff8a59beb6fae24dda7bfeb9d