Leveraging nanoparticles for sustainable water harvesting: A review of solar still technologies

Abstract

• Review on nanomaterial for enhanced performance of solar stills for water desalination. • It summarizes collaborative efforts to optimize solar still efficiency through nanoparticle integration. • Effect of Nano-fluids, Nano-enhanced phase change materials, and nano-coatings on performance of solar stills is provided. • The thermo-enviro-economic analyses of different solar stills with nanomaterial is provided. • Promising future scopes of work on the solar stills with nanomaterial. Freshwater is a crucial resource for urbanization, societal development, and industrial and agricultural advancement. However, global freshwater availability is dwindling while demand surges, creating a pressing challenge. Nanoparticles offer a promising solution to amend the solar still efficacy to be more practical in regions facing water scarcity or limited energy access. This review comprehensively examines research aimed at improving solar still thermal performance using nanofluids, phase change materials, and nanocoatings. It summarizes collaborative efforts to optimize solar still efficiency through nanoparticle integration. provides a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners aiming to gain insight into recent advancements in using nanoparticle coatings to enhance solar still efficiency and thermal performance. The findings are presented in detailed tables and supplementary, providing a comprehensive overview of related research. When Nanofluid was added to solar stills, production increased by 20 % to 80 %. Production increased by 51.28 % to 105.2 % whenever solar stills were equipped with glazing cooling. When absorbers were coated with nanoparticles, the output of solar stills increased by 14 % to 20 %. Likewise, the use of nanomaterials, PCM characteristics, resulting in a 3–35 % improvement in output.