Experimental Comparison of Cu and SiC Nanomaterial Coated Absorber Plates for Enhanced Water Productivity of a Solar Still

Abstract

Solar still  productivity  is  inherently limited  by  weak  heat  and  mass  transfer  processes.  Experimental investigations reported  in  the  literature  demonstrate  that  nanomaterial  modification  of  absorber  plates significantly enhances evaporation rates and freshwater yield . In the present study, a single basin single slope solar still is experimentally investigated on a pilot experiment based on first week of November          2024 using copper (Cu) and silicon carbide (SiC) nanomaterial coated absorber plates at a concentration of 30%.

Compared with  a  conventional  black  coated  absorber  plate,  the  Cu  nanomaterial   coating  yields  a productivity enhancement of 15.0 %, while the SiC nanomaterial coating achieves a higher enhancement of 27.0%. Similar enhancement trends have been reported for metal-based and ceramic-based nanomaterial coatings in solar  still  applications .  The  superior  performance  of  SiC  is  attributed  to  its  higher  thermal  stability, improved  solar   absorptivity,  and  enhanced  heat  transfer  capability,  consistent  with  earlier experimental findings .