Solar steam device could find use in developing countries
Rice University scientists have unveiled a device that uses metallic and conductive carbon nanoparticles to turn solar energy into steam.
The technology, developed at Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP), has an overall energy efficiency of 24 per cent, whereas photovoltaic solar panels, by comparison, typically have an overall energy efficiency of around 15 per cent.
The inventors said in a statement that they expect the technology to be used initially for sanitation and water purification in developing countries.
‘This is about a lot more than electricity,’ said LANP director Naomi Halas, the lead scientist on the project, which is detailed in a paper published online in ACS Nano. ‘With this technology, we are beginning to think about solar thermal power in a completely different way.’
The efficiency of solar steam is a result of the light-capturing nanoparticles that convert sunlight into heat. When submerged in water and exposed to sunlight, the particles heat up so quickly that they instantly vaporise water and create steam. Halas said the solar steam’s overall energy efficiency can probably be increased as the technology is refined.
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