Metal tungstate-polymer nanocomposites for solar steam generator

In the last two decade, the increasing demand for clean fresh water has become a severe problem which restrain the social and economic development worldwide. With the growing pace of industrialization, the available clean water resources are contaminated by the discharge of effluents containing dye and hazardous organic adulterants which are poising grievous threats to the eco system. Since the conventional technologies available for the eviction of such intractable pollutants required high precision equipment for the post-treatment of sorbent material, a solar-driven steam generator technology emerged for seawater desalination and sewage reusage. Solar-to-steam generator device is constructed using polyurethane sponge on which thin layer of polypyrrole-Iron tungstate nano composite is coated. Though both Polypyrrole and Iron tungstate materials are known to possess excellent broadband light absorption, their combination exhibited improved light absorption ability. Solar-to-heat conversion efficiency noted is 86.9% with evaporation rate 1.2 kg m-2 hr-1 under irradiation of 1 sun, making the design a promising and more practical for interfacial solar vapour generation.