scholarly journals Photothermal materials for efficient solar powered steam generation

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fenghua Liu ◽  
Yijian Lai ◽  
Binyuan Zhao ◽  
Robert Bradley ◽  
Weiping Wu
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Energy Harvest ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Steam Generation ◽  
Heat Management ◽  
Solar Powered

Abstract Solar powered steam generation is an emerging area in the field of energy harvest and sustainable technologies. The nano-structured photothermal materials are able to harvest energy from the full solar spectrum and convert it to heat with high efficiency. Moreover, the materials and structures for heat management as well as the mass transportation are also brought to the forefront. Several groups have reported their materials and structures as solutions for high performance devices, a few creatively coupled other physical fields with solar energy to achieve even better results. This paper provides a systematic review on the recent developments in photothermal nanomaterial discovery, material selection, structural design and mass/heat management, as well as their applications in seawater desalination and fresh water production from waste water with free solar energy. It also discusses current technical challenges and likely future developments. This article will help to stimulate novel ideas and new designs for the photothermal materials, towards efficient, low cost practical solar-driven clean water production.

Janus-interface engineering boosting solar steam towards high-efficiency water collection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Houze Yao ◽  
Panpan Zhang ◽  
Ce Yang ◽  
Qihua Liao ◽  
Xuanzhang Hao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Water Evaporation ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Interface Engineering ◽  
Steam Generation ◽  
Generation System ◽  
Solar Powered ◽  
Solar Steam Generation ◽  
Global Water

Solar powered clean water production has been considered a favorable way to address the problem of global water shortage. Recently, the interfacial solar-steam generation system has greatly improved water evaporation...

A bridge-arched and layer-structured hollow melamine foam/reduced graphene oxide composite with an enlarged evaporation area and superior thermal insulation for high-performance solar steam generation

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 2701-2711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sen Meng ◽  
Xing Zhao ◽  
Chun-Yan Tang ◽  
Peng Yu ◽  
Rui-Ying Bao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graphene Oxide ◽  
Reduced Graphene Oxide ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
High Performance ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Insulation Layer ◽  
Steam Generation ◽  
Oxide Composite ◽  
Reduced Graphene ◽  
Solar Steam Generation

A bridge-arched integrated evaporator that introduces air as the thermal insulation layer exhibits high-efficiency solar steam generation.

Pathways toward high-performance inorganic perovskite solar cells: challenges and strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (36) ◽  
pp. 20494-20518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Li ◽  
Lin Fu ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Lu Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Perovskite Solar Cells ◽  
Inorganic Perovskite ◽  
Challenges And Strategies

High-efficiency and low-cost perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are desirable candidates for addressing the scalability challenge of renewable solar energy.

Optical Analyses of Microfluidic Tunable Liquid Prisms for Enhanced Solar Energy Collection

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Wadhwa ◽  
Sung-Yong Park
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Reflection Loss ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Incident Angle ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Beam Steering ◽  
Index Ratio

We present optical analyses of a microfluidic tunable liquid prism to find its optimized configuration that can achieve wider beam steering as well as less reflection loss and eventually maximize solar energy capture without mechanical tracking. For this study, four different prism configurations are compared from single to quad-stacked ones with various refractive indices of the liquids filled in the prism. Its beam steering capability can be improved by increasing the refractive index ratio between the liquids used and by using higher number of the stacked prisms. The quad-stacked prism is able to steer incoming sunlight with an incident angle of a α ≤ ± 75° at an apex angle of φ ≤ ± 30°, which represents more than 5 times improvement, when it is compared to the single prism using the same liquids. For appropriate liquid material selection, the effect of refractive index ratio, r = n2/n1, on beam steering was additionally studied. However, one considerable issue is the fact that the better beam steering, the more reflection loss. This is because both higher number of interfaces and larger refractive index ratio make more reflection at each of the interfaces. Our reflectance analysis showed that the quad prism performs inferior to the double prism until α = ± 32°, while being of superior beam steering performance. To further reduce the solar energy loss through the quad prism, a modified configuration is proposed with a thin film added to the interfaces. 50 % of the total reflection was reduced. Our technology promises an alternative to a low-cost and high-efficiency solar tracking system capable of beam steering as wide as ± 75° and reflection loss as low as 4.5%, during all daily tracking of the sun.

scholarly journals Design of Novel Metal Nanostructures for Broadband Solar Energy Conversion

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Kristine A. Zhang ◽  
David Ma ◽  
Ying-Chih Pu ◽  
Yat Li
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Light Absorption ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Solar Energy Conversion ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Simulation Method ◽  
Metal Nanostructures

Solar power holds great potential as an alternative energy source, but current photovoltaic cells have much room for improvement in cost and efficiency. Our objective was to develop metal nanostructures whose surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectra closely match the solar spectrum to enhance light absorption and scattering. We employed the finite-difference time-domain simulation method to evaluate the effect of varying key parameters. A novel nanostructure with SPR absorption matching a region of the solar spectrum (300 to 1500 nm) that contains 90% of solar energy was successfully designed. This structure consists of a large gold-silica core-shell structure with smaller gold nanoparticles and nanorods on its surface. Such complex nanostructures are promising for broad and tunable absorption spectra. In addition, we investigated the SPR of silver nanoparticle arrays, which can achieve scattering close to the solar spectrum. We demonstrated an improvement in efficiency of over 30% with optimal nanoparticle radius and periods of 75 nm and 325 nm, respectively. In combination, our studies enable high-efficiency, tunable, and cost-effective enhancement of both light absorption and scattering, which has potential applications in solar energy conversion as well as biomedical imaging.

Formation of S defects in MoS2-coated Wood for High-Efficiency Seawater Desalination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan He ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Xiangang Hu ◽  
Qixing Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Solar Energy Conversion ◽  
Preparation Process ◽  
Seawater Desalination ◽  
Steam Generation ◽  
Complex Preparation ◽  
Solar Steam Generation

Solar steam generation has attracted interest in water purification and seawater desalination as an efficient solar energy conversion method. However, the complex preparation process and limited efficiency restrict the practical...

Enhanced Solar Energy Harvest for Power Generation From Brayton Cycle

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Neber ◽  
Hohyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Silicon Carbide ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Black Body ◽  
Body Cavity ◽  
Energy Harvest ◽  
Solar Absorber

A scalable and modular solar thermal dish-Brayton system is proposed in response to growing demand for renewable energy and distributed power generation. Existing dish systems require large areas to achieve sufficient conversion efficiency for the cost of the system. Also, the conversion efficiencies are limited by the materials and manufacturing processes. This paper proposes a low cost, high efficiency solar absorber as the core of a dish-Brayton system with the capability to achieve much higher operating temperatures than current absorbers. A simple cylindrical part, forming a black body cavity, is fabricated from silicon carbide for high absorptivity at a low fabrication cost. The manufacturing process consists of a simple casting and sintering procedure, which is a common way of creating ceramic parts. Another cylindrical shell is fabricated to cover the outer surface of the black body cavity, creating a channel for air to pass through. The high thermal conductivity of the silicon carbide ensures the efficient heat transfer between the solar absorber and the air. The entire solar energy absorber is designed to heat air up to 1500 K, which would improve energy conversion efficiency of concentrated solar power generation based on 1270 K by 20%. Analysis and test results on a scaled device are presented.

All-in-one and scalable carbon fibre-based evaporator by weaving craft for high-efficiency and stable solar desalination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zhang ◽  
Xingfang Xiao ◽  
Guomeng Zhao ◽  
Hongjun Yang ◽  
Huhu Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Carbon Fibre ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Steam Generation ◽  
Solar Desalination ◽  
Solar Steam Generation

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is one of the most promising technologies to obtain freshwater from solar energy. Many promising approaches have been proposed for solar steam generation. However, some problems (the...

High-Performance Hardware Interpolation Architecture for High Efficiency Video Coding Decoder

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 764
Author(s):  
Lella Aicha Ayadi ◽  
Nihel Neji ◽  
Hassen Loukil ◽  
Mouhamed Ali Ben Ayed ◽  
Nouri Masmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Video Coding ◽  
High Performance ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
High Efficiency Video Coding
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