MIT News December 11, 2018
Researchers at MIT have built and demonstrated a solar-driven evaporation system. Top layer of the system is a metal ceramic composite and the bottom layer was coated with a material that easily and efficiently emits infrared heat. A layer of reticulated carbon foam is sandwiched between the two layers. It retains the sun’s incoming heat and can further heat up the steam rising back up through the foam. A small outlet tube allows steam to exit. The structure absorbs solar radiation and re-radiates infrared photons, which are directly absorbed by the water within a sub-100 μm penetration depth. Due to the physical separation from the water, fouling is entirely avoided. They generated steam with temperatures up to 133 °C. It is possible to scale this up to something that could be used in remote climates to generate enough drinking water for a family or sterilize equipment for one operating room…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
In this experiment, the new steam-generating device was mounted over a basin of water, placed on a small table, and partially surrounded by a simple, transparent solar concentrator. Courtesy: Researchers