Solar-thermal desalination system for parallel water-electricity generation. This project aims to develop a multi-functional solar-thermal desalination device to simultaneously produce clean water and electricity. Interfacial solar evaporation-based desalination technology has the unique advantage of using solar light as the sole energy source for affordable clean water production. However, its absolute evaporation rate is still too low for practical application and all of the latent heat releas ....Solar-thermal desalination system for parallel water-electricity generation. This project aims to develop a multi-functional solar-thermal desalination device to simultaneously produce clean water and electricity. Interfacial solar evaporation-based desalination technology has the unique advantage of using solar light as the sole energy source for affordable clean water production. However, its absolute evaporation rate is still too low for practical application and all of the latent heat released from vapor condensation during desalination is wasted. Solving these two critical issues by the study of energy nexus, design and fabrication of advanced photothermal materials and desalination devices could accelerate practical adoption of this technology and benefit millions of people who desperately need clean water. Read moreRead less
Improving anti-salt crystallisation for solar-steam desalination. This project aims to solve a critical issue of solar-steam desalination by fundamental research. The solar-steam desalination technology offers an ideal strategy to utilize solar light as the energy source for desalination and water purification to produce affordable clean water. Photothermal materials play a key role in the desalination system to convert sunlight to heat and subsequently evaporate the saline water to generate ste ....Improving anti-salt crystallisation for solar-steam desalination. This project aims to solve a critical issue of solar-steam desalination by fundamental research. The solar-steam desalination technology offers an ideal strategy to utilize solar light as the energy source for desalination and water purification to produce affordable clean water. Photothermal materials play a key role in the desalination system to convert sunlight to heat and subsequently evaporate the saline water to generate steam as clean water. However, salt crystallization on the photothermal material surfaces severely limits the performance of the materials and clean water production. Solving this problem could accelerate the commercialisation and application of this technology, which will benefit millions of people worldwide.Read moreRead less