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Improving the efficiency of solar desalination

Over one-third of the world’s population lacks access to clean water. Sunlight-driven distillation, which can desalinate seawater and purify contaminated water, is a sustainable, cost-effective way to provide potable water. Now, researchers report a simple method to boost the technique’s efficiency by as much as 50% (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2019, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1905311116). The work could lead to portable, solar water purification devices ideal for remote places that are not connected to an electrical grid. Two years ago, Naomi Halas, Peter Nordlander, and their colleagues at Rice University developed a low-cost solar distillation technique. The system uses a polymer membrane that blocks liquid water but lets water vapor pass through. One side of the membrane is covered by a layer of low-cost, carbon-black nanoparticles that absorb sunlight and heat up. The particles help boil seawater placed on the membrane, and the resulting water vapor passes through the material and