Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Efficient Solar-Driven Water Desalination based on Nanomaterial Design
EPA Grant Number: SU840163Title: Efficient Solar-Driven Water Desalination based on Nanomaterial Design
Investigators: Zhu, Zhengtao
Institution: South Dakota Schools of Mines and Technology
EPA Project Officer: Spatz, Kyle
Phase: I
Project Period: December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2021 (Extended to November 30, 2022)
Project Amount: $25,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2020) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
Objective:
This project aims to develop innovative nanomaterials and solar still apparatus for desalination of brackish groundwater.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
This project aims to develop innovative nanomaterials and solar still apparatus for desalination of brackish groundwater. Different photothermal fabrics were investigated for the solar-drive evaporation—black fabrics from market, carbon black coated black fabrics, and carbon black/polydopamine particles coated black fabrics. The setup with no fabrics was used as a control experiment. The control experiment, in which water in the beaker was evaporated under 1 Sun simulated solar light, resulted in about 1.4 g water loss in 4 hours. The setup with photothermal materials floating on water resulted in significantly high evaporation of water under simulated solar light. Water evaporation of the setup with black fabric was about 2.5 times faster than the control setup, whereas incorporation of carbon black and carbon black/polydopamine led to 3.7 times and 4.1 times faster evaporation than the controlled setup, respectively. The result demonstrated using nanomaterial based photothermal materials is an effective way to improve the efficiency of solar-driven water evaporation.
Conclusions:
The outdoor solar still testing further confirms that the photothermal materials floating on water surface would improve the efficiency of solar driven water purification under the real-world conditions.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
solar energy, water purification technologies, drinking waterProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.