Nanocomposite-Enhanced Efficient Evaporation System for Solar-Driven Seawater Desalination—An Optimized Design for Clean Water Production

Abstract

Solar-driven evaporation is a promising technology for desalinating seawater and wastewater without mechanical or electrical energy. The approaches to obtaining fresh water with higher evaporation efficiency are essential to address the water-scarcity issue in remote sensing areas. Herein, we report a highly efficient solar evaporator derived from the nanocomposite of anatase TiO2/activated carbon (TiO2/AC), which was coated on washable cotton fabric using the dip-dry technique for solar water evaporation. The ultra-black fabric offers enhanced solar absorption (93.03%), hydrophilic water transport, and an efficient evaporation rate of 1.65 kg/m2h under 1 kW m−2 or one sun solar intensity. More importantly, the sideways water channels and centralized thermal insulation of the designed TiO2/AC solar evaporator accumulated photothermal heat at the liquid and air interface along with an enhanced surface temperature of 40.98 °C under one sun. The fabricated solar evaporator desalinated seawater (3.5 wt%) without affecting the evaporation rates, and the collected condensed water met the standard of drinking water set by the World Health Organization (WHO). This approach eventually enabled the engineering design groups to develop the technology pathways as well as optimum conditions for low-cost, scalable, efficient, and sustainable solar-driven steam generators to cope with global water scarcity.