{"id":41276,"date":"2020-07-14T08:36:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T22:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=41276"},"modified":"2020-07-14T08:36:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T22:06:36","slug":"swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601\/","title":{"rendered":"Super-Wicking And Light-Absorbing &#8220;Solar Panel&#8221; Purifies Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-41277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification.jpg\" alt=\"Solar panel water purification\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification-768x403.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Backed by funding from the U.S Army Research Office, researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a super-wicking and super-light-absorbing material that can be used for accelerated water evaporation and purification.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The laser processing technology developed by the researchers turns aluminium black, making it highly absorptive, and etches it in a way enabling the sheet to wick water against gravity.<\/p>\n<p>When placed in a water source at an angle facing the sun, a thin film of water is rapidly drawn up over the surface of the super-wicking and super-light-absorbing (SWSA) sheet, where it quickly evaporates and leaves behind contaminants.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Sustainable water purification using laser treated metal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HBgy4YUvymw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The sheet would be pretty useless without a capture system for the evaporated water, but a report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41893-020-0566-x\">published<\/a> in the journal Nature Sustainability shows a schematic of the team&#8217;s water sanitation\/desalination test setup.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-41278 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-purification-dome.jpg\" alt=\"Solar water purification - SWSA test\" width=\"642\" height=\"694\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-purification-dome.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-purification-dome-278x300.jpg 278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Harnessing solar energy for water purification isn&#8217;t anything new. But Chunlei Guo, professor of optics at University of Rochester who is leading the project, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/237210\">says<\/a> this material has distinct advantages over other purification technologies.<\/p>\n<p>In some, a large volume of water is heated but only the top layer can evaporate, which is inefficient. Where wicking is used, the material is usually placed on top of the water and for the most part of the day won&#8217;t be facing the sun directly, whereas the SWSA sheet angle and direction can be adjusted to maximise solar exposure. Wicking materials in other systems also become clogged with contaminants and require frequent replacement, but because an open grooved surface is used for the SWSA panel, it can be easily cleaned by spraying it.<\/p>\n<h2>Bifacial Approach Boosts Efficiency<\/h2>\n<p>Using a design comparable to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/double-glass-glass-glass-bifacial-panels-hell\/\">bifacial photovoltaic solar panels<\/a> that capture light from both sides of the module, the researchers demonstrated a 150% increase in efficiency compared with a single-sided SWSA.<\/p>\n<h2>Application For PV Solar Panels<\/h2>\n<p>The researchers believe the technology could be integrated with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/panels\/\">conventional solar panels<\/a> that generate electricity, through the use of the SWSA material on the back of panels that could increase PV efficiency by cooling the module while simultaneously generating clean water.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s obviously still a long way to go with this technology. The Army and Professor Guo are currently investigating transition opportunities to further develop it within Department of Defense laboratories and private industry.<\/p>\n<p>Other solar water purification systems we&#8217;ve covered in the past that have actually made it to market include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/source-air-solar-water-mb0312\/\">Zero Mass Water&#8217;s Source system<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backed by funding from the U.S Army Research Office, researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a super-wicking and super-light-absorbing material that can be used for accelerated water evaporation and purification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":41277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-battery-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Super-Wicking And Light-Absorbing &quot;Solar Panel&quot; Purifies Water<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"University of Rochester researchers have developed\u00a0a super-wicking and super-light-absorbing material that can accelerate water evaporation and purification\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Super-Wicking And Light-Absorbing &quot;Solar Panel&quot; Purifies Water\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"University of Rochester researchers have developed\u00a0a super-wicking and super-light-absorbing material that can accelerate water evaporation and purification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-13T22:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/solar-water-purification.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bloch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/swsa-solar-water-purification-mb1601\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Super-Wicking And Light-Absorbing &#8220;Solar Panel&#8221; 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This beats the previous record of 22.94% Trina achieved in May\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Panels&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Panels","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar Cell Efficiency","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/trina-black-cell-efficiency.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/trina-black-cell-efficiency.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/trina-black-cell-efficiency.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17723,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-fuels-rig-mb0373\/","url_meta":{"origin":41276,"position":2},"title":"From Oil Rigs To Solar Fuel Rigs","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"December 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Engineers at Columbia University have developed what they say is practical floating solar powered hydrogen-generating device that doesn't require pumps or membranes. It's envisioned the \"solar fuels rig\" concept could eventually be deployed on the ocean to produce hydrogen fuel in large quantities from sunlight and water. Solar panels positioned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar fuels rig","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/solar-fuels-rig.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/solar-fuels-rig.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/solar-fuels-rig.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/solar-fuels-rig.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3756,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\/","url_meta":{"origin":41276,"position":3},"title":"A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops","author":"Staff Writer","date":"June 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Every now and then we like to take a look at what\u2019s happening in solar energy research, weigh the pros and cons and see how it will play out in our wide, brown land. This week we\u2019ve got a beauty. We'll look at a novel way to combine (the word\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/utility-scale-solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"utility scale solar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11118,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/air-pollution-solar-hydrogen-mb0027\/","url_meta":{"origin":41276,"position":4},"title":"Turning Air Pollution Into An Energy Source With Solar","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"May 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Researchers are developing a solar powered device that cleans up polluted air and in the process, creates a renewable fuel - hydrogen. University of Antwerp and KU Leuven scientists say the underlying processes used are similar to those found in conventional solar panels. The device uses a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Power from pollution with solar energy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/pollution-power-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/pollution-power-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/pollution-power-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36456,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/renewables-water-industry-mb1368\/","url_meta":{"origin":41276,"position":5},"title":"Renewable Electricity Generation In Australia&#8217;s Water Utility Industry","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"How much on-site renewables-based electricity is generated by Australia's water and wastewater utilities? Researchers at the University of Queensland sought to find out. According to researchers from UQ's School of Chemical Engineering, the Australian water industry generated 279\u202fGWh of its electricity from on-site renewable sources in 2018. That was around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar power and Australian water utilities","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/australia-water-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/australia-water-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/australia-water-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/australia-water-solar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/australia-water-solar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41276"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41284,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41276\/revisions\/41284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}