Improving the performance of graphite-based solar water desalination system by using plasmonic nickel nanoparticles and engineering the structure

Heshmati, Farzaneh Zeynab; Ahmadi, Vahid; Sadrameli, Seyed Mojtaba

Improving the performance of graphite-based solar water desalination system by using plasmonic nickel nanoparticles and engineering the structure

Document Type : Qualitative Research

Authors

F. Z. Heshmati ¹

V. Ahmadi ²

S. M. Sadrameli ³

¹ Ph.D. candidate, Process Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

² Optoelectronics and Nanophotonics Research Group, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Department of Engineering, German University of Technology in Oman, Muscat, Oman.

Abstract

Research Subject: Because of the constant deterioration of environmental conditions, the world faces energy and clean water shortage. To address the water crisis issue, the solar steam generation system has been considered as a suitable technology for seawater desalination due to its competitive features, such as no carbon dioxide emission, low energy consumption, and high efficiency. In modern solar steam generation systems, solar energy is harvested by a photothermal absorber and then converted into thermal energy to heat a certain volume of water and produce steam. Then, the generated steam condenses on the inner surface of the cover, and clean water is collected. The five key features required for solar steam generation system are: high light absorption, low heat losses and heat localization, proper water transfer, and the ability to float on the water surface.

Research Methods: In this study, a solar steam generation system based on a graphite absorber layer is built, and its performance is improved using nickel plasmonic nanoparticles.

In order to investigate the dependency of the performance on the structure, two different layers including cotton and polyester felts are used to transfer water controllable. In this study, the water evaporation rate, surface temperature, and efficiency of the devices are evaluated.

Main Results: Thermal efficiency and evaporation rate for the system based on the pure graphite absorber is 68.17% and 0.97 kg/m².h, which increases to 93.57% and 1.37 kg/m².h, respectively by adding nickel nanoparticles. Using two cotton and PS water managers reveals the importance of the thermal energy and mass transfer balancing in the systems, which strongly affects the devices performance.

Keywords

Water Desalination

Solar Steam Generation

Plasmonic

Graphite

and Nickel NPs

Subjects

Energy Storage

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