Modified membrane improves off-grid desalination

The temperature of solar panels can be over 40 degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding air temperature in arid regions. These conditions arise because silicon photovoltaic cells typically convert only one-quarter of absorbed solar energy into electricity while the remainder heats up the cell. Extreme operating temperatures reduce the cell’s efficiency and lifespan further.

The team tried to overcome this with water cooling but found that the operating temperature of their photovoltaic panel remained stubbornly high.

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To remedy this, researchers Wenbin Wang and Sara Aleid helped to develop a theoretical model to explore the relationship between certain membrane parameters, such as thickness and porosity, to the solar cell hotness.

“A lower solar-cell temperature relies on regulating heat transfer through the hydrophobic membrane in the multistage device,” Wang said in a statement. “Simply by modulating the membrane parameters, we found that utilising a thinner hydrophobic membrane with higher porosity enables higher desalination performance and lower solar-cell temperature to be achieved simultaneously.”