Highly efficient solar distiller integrated with photothermal membrane, superhydrophilic glass, and superhydrophobic heat sink

Solar steam generation and re-condensing into water is an effective way to lighten water scarcity caused by unreasonable waste of water. In this report, superhydrophobic, high thermal conductive aluminum and superhydrophilic glass was applied as condensing system and anti-fogging unit to ensure highly efficient process of drinkable water collection. The nanowire array of copper sulfide with nanorod array architecture guarantees strong solar absorption, which was used as photothermal conversion membrane to evaporate water. The efficiency of photothermal conversion to steam generation reached up to 81% under 1 sun illumination. Etching and surface modification was applied on high thermal conductive aluminum and glass to obtain a superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surface nature. These three synergies of nanorod array architecture, anti-fogging glass and high-efficiency condensing system made the solar distiller a highly water collection efficiency up to 66%.