Comparative study of photothermal conversion efficiency of laser-ablated Ag, Au, and CuO nanoparticles for solar steam generation applications

IF 6.3 2区材料科学 Q2 ENERGY & FUELS

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Pub Date : 2025-05-06 DOI:10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113692

Walaa Gouda , Hamdy Maamoun Abdel-Ghafar , Hossam Fathy Nassar , Tarek Mohamed

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Due to freshwater scarcity, the urgent need for affordable, effective, and scalable seawater and wastewater purification technologies has gained significant attention. Solar steam generation (SSG) presents a sustainable solution for freshwater production. Noble metal nanoparticles showed higher photothermal conversion efficiencies than conventional materials, drawing considerable interest in SSG applications. In this study, silver (Ag), gold (Au), and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were synthesized using a one-step, environmentally friendly technique called laser ablation in liquid. The impact of varying the laser average power on nanoparticle size, concentration, and photothermal activity were studied. The nanofluids were then applied to SSG, and their evaporation rates were evaluated in comparison to pure water. Under the same 1-sun irradiation circumstances, Au NPs exhibited the highest evaporation rate, achieving 2.29 times the rate of pure water with the highest photothermal efficiency among other prepared nanofluid that reach 80 %. Ag NPs demonstrated an evaporation rate 2.08 times higher, while CuO NPs increased the evaporation rate by 1.73 times compared to pure water. While silver nanofluid photothermal conversion efficiency (PTE) enhancement was 243 % and copper oxide PTE enhancement was 190 %, the optimal performances were achieved with gold nanofluids, exhibiting a (PTE) enhancement of 306 % relative to the base fluid. These results highlight the superior performance of Au NPs in photothermal applications and underscore the potential of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles in developing pure water production by solar energy.

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激光烧蚀Ag、Au和CuO纳米粒子光热转换效率的比较研究

由于淡水资源的稀缺，对经济、有效、可扩展的海水和废水净化技术的迫切需求已经引起了人们的极大关注。太阳能蒸汽发电（SSG）为淡水生产提供了一个可持续的解决方案。贵金属纳米颗粒表现出比传统材料更高的光热转换效率，引起了人们对SSG应用的极大兴趣。在这项研究中，银（Ag）、金（Au）和氧化铜（CuO）纳米颗粒是用一种称为液体激光烧蚀的一步环保技术合成的。研究了不同激光平均功率对纳米颗粒粒径、浓度和光热活性的影响。然后将纳米流体应用于SSG，并与纯水进行比较，评估其蒸发速率。在相同的1个太阳照射条件下，Au纳米流体的蒸发速率最高，达到纯水蒸发速率的2.29倍，光热效率最高，达到80%。Ag NPs的蒸发速率是纯水的2.08倍，CuO NPs的蒸发速率是纯水的1.73倍。银纳米流体的光热转换效率（PTE）提高了243%，氧化铜的PTE提高了190%，而金纳米流体的光热转换效率（PTE）比基液提高了306%，达到了最佳性能。这些结果突出了金纳米粒子在光热应用中的优越性能，并强调了金属和金属氧化物纳米粒子在利用太阳能生产纯水方面的潜力。

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来源期刊

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

12.60

自引率

11.60%

发文量

513

审稿时长

47 days

期刊介绍： Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells is intended as a vehicle for the dissemination of research results on materials science and technology related to photovoltaic, photothermal and photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. Materials science is taken in the broadest possible sense and encompasses physics, chemistry, optics, materials fabrication and analysis for all types of materials.