Abstract
•Experimental analysis of four different solar desalination systems.•Combined utilization of nanoparticles in thermal storage and absorber coating.•Energy efficiency values were obtained between 15.96 and 19.30%.•Accumulated productivity was upgraded as 26.77%.
In this survey, impact of combined utilization of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles both in thermal energy storage unit and absorber coating (matt black paint) on the performance of a single-slope solar still has been investigated experimentally. In this context, four different solar desalination systems including a conventional solar still, solar still with thermal energy storage unit, solar still with CuO nano-embedded latent heat storage unit and solar still with CuO nano-enhanced absorber coating and thermal energy storage unit have been developed, fabricated and empirically analyzed. Experimental results showed that combined employing nanoparticles upgraded accumulated productivity as 26.77% in comparison to conventional solar still. Also, energy and exergy efficiency values were enhanced from 15.96% to 19.90% and from 1.25% and 2.01%, respectively with the use of combined modification.