International Journal of Green Energy

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ljge20

A review on recent developments of solar stills

to enhance productivity using nanoparticles and
nano-PCM

Nagaraju V, G. Murali, Sankeerthana M & M. Murugan

To cite this article: Nagaraju V, G. Murali, Sankeerthana M & M. Murugan (2021): A review on
recent developments of solar stills to enhance productivity using nanoparticles and nano-PCM,
International Journal of Green Energy, DOI: 10.1080/15435075.2021.1956935

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2021.1956935

Published online: 08 Aug 2021.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2021.1956935

A review on recent developments of solar stills to enhance productivity using

nanoparticles and nano-PCM
a a b c
Nagaraju V , G. Murali , Sankeerthana M , and M. Murugan
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Educational Foundation, Green Fields, Vaddeswaram, Guntur (Dt). Andhra Pradesh,
India-; bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Sree Chaitanya College of Engineering Karimnagar, Telanaga, India; cDepartment of Mechanical
Engineering, Aditya College of Engineering & Technology, Surampalem, East Godavari (Dt), Andhra Pradesh, India-

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Employing phase change material (PCM) as a productivity-enriching medium in solar stills is the best Received 25 February 2021
source of storing the heat for a longer period in recent years. Few researchers incorporated the nano­ Accepted 10 July 2021
particles into PCM to examine the effect of nanoparticles on the productivity of a solar still. The current KEYWORDS
paper reviews the characteristic features of nanoparticles and the recent developments in the usage of Nanoparticle; pcm;
nano-based PCM and pure nanoparticles as a thermal storage medium in solar stills. Nano-employed PCM productivity; thermal
is also being attracted and dragging the attention to increase the main key barrier of low thermal performance; energy
conductivity of PCM in industrial and household applications due to its higher solidification and melting efficiency; solar still
rates. Merits of using nanoparticles and PCM with nanoparticles are presented in the article from the apex
of its positive properties on solar stills for their improvement in thermal performance. Further, it
showcases the use of pure nanoparticles and nanoparticles integrated with PCM which helps in increasing
the PCM thermal conductivity when compared to base fluids and has been chosen as the best suitable
technique (Nanoparticles) for increasing still productivity. The development of this review paper focuses
on the enrichment of thermal energy capabilities of PCM using nanoparticles (or) nanocomposites that
would afford to attain high productivity and improved thermal performance by different comparisons for
a better understanding.

1. Introduction
Due to the rapid growth in population and industries, there is
a scarcity of potable water and renewable energy sources have
become hopeful solutions for producing freshwater. Solar
energy is the best alternative source among all other renewable
energy sources because it is clean abundant energy with eco-
friendly nature. Freshwater can also be produced by using fossil
fuels but it affects the environment by more pollution and
creates global warming. Solar desalination is a naturally oper­
ated process, where it purifies the impurities from contami­
nated water by utilizing the freely and extensively available
solar energy. Energy efficiency and productivity are the
imperative factors to be produced in solar desalination tech­
nology with the help of different heat storage materials, geo­
metrical and operational design of the still. To make the
process very quick and clean, many external and internal
modifications have been done on conventional still, but it
could not satisfy the needs of a family per day. So solar desa­
lination is the best possible technique for producing fresh­
water. Solar energy is economically good than fossil fuels and
in addition to that fossil fuels require more time to purify the
saline water. The solar desalination technique was first
invented in the 19th century but first experiments on solar
stills were started in the 20th century and further modifications
are being carried out on solar still to enhance the productivity.
The need for potable water is rising day by day due to modern
lifestyle developments (Joe Patrick Gnana raj, Ramachandran,
and David Santosh 2017). About 96% of the world’s water is
brackish and 40% of people live in drought (Tabrizi and Sharak
2010). Humans are depending upon natural resources like
rivers, lakes, and oceans for their living, but there is a scarcity
of pure water due to dumping the waste from industries and
letting them into lakes, rivers (Bhattacharyya 2013). Due to this
pollution, river water may be contaminated and may contain
bacteria, enzymes that are harmful to drink and people living
in arid regions are facing problems in obtaining fresh water. So,
the water must be purified for usage and this purification can
be done by solar desalination technique, which makes the
water potable (Sahota and Tiwari 2016a).
Desalination refers to remove salts and bacteria to convert the
brackish water into fresh water and solar energy is considered as
the cleanest source which does not affect the environment.
However, simple solar still is easy to operate and people in
rural areas are using this setup, this simple still gives less pro­
ductivity per day. To increase the productivity and evaporation
rate, many researchers have conducted experiments on

Corresponding: G. Murali muralinitt@gmail.com; Department of Mechanical engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Educational Foundation, Green Fields,
Vaddeswaram, Guntur (Dt). Andhra Pradesh,India-522 502.
Abbreviations: CNT Carbon Nano Tubes; FGN Flake Graphene Nanoparticles; GO Graphene Oxide; MWCNT Multi-Wall Carbon Nano Tubes; NEPCM Nano-enhanced phase
change material; NPCM Nano Phase Change Material; Nu Nusselt number; PCM Phase Change Material; PVA Polyvinyl alcohol; SSPCM Shape Stabilized Phase Change
Material; TCU Thermal control unit; TES Thermal energy storage.
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 N. V. ET AL.

conventional solar stills by making some external and internal parabolic concentrators to increase productivity. Solar stills
design modifications like double slope still, stepped still, troughs, can be used as storage systems in two different ways namely
etc. (Badran and Al-Tahaineh 2005). It was shown by experi­ sensible storage and latent storage (El-Sebaii et al. 2009). The
mentation that productivity is inversely proportional to the latent heat storage system has the advantage of having high
depth of basin water (Kabeel and Abdelgaied 2016). heat fusion for freezing or melting. The classification of passive
solar stills is shown in Figure 2
1.1. Solar desalination techniques
1.2.1. Types of inclined solar stills
Solar desalination is one of the promising technologies, which
The productivity of solar stills depends on many parameters
can be used for making potable water resource in many differ­
such as the thickness of the transparent plate, absorbing mate­
ent ways and Figure 1 represents the different types of desali­
rial, and the design of the still is one of the main modifications
nation technologies
which can be done for increasing productivity. Inclined solar
Basin solar still is the traditional form of using solar energy
stills help in absorbing more amount of radiation which is
for the conversion of saline water to fresh water and it can be
useful to increase the thermal properties. The various inclined
easily fabricated and operated. It has a black basin surface
solar stills classified as shown in Figure 3
where the water is fed into it and a transparent plate is placed
over the basin without any air gap where water gets evaporated
and collected through the glass to the outlet pipe due to gravity
1.3. Development of solar stills to improve the yield
(Kalidasa Murugavel, Chockalingam, and Srithar 2008). The
radiation from the sun makes the water gets heated up and Single basin solar stills are very economical and user-friendly
then evaporates from the basin and collects the pure water in nature and can be developed easily. But the main disadvan­
leaving all the contaminants behind (Nafey et al. 2001). tage is low productivity and this disadvantage can be overcome
The sealant which is used between the glass cover and the by making some modifications to the still to increase its ther­
basin is silicon, for avoiding water vapor losses (Minea and El- mal characteristics.
maghlany 2018). There are heat losses from the basin to sur­
roundings so, that basin must be insulated by insulating mate­
rial like rock wool, polyurethane foam, thermocol to reduce the
heat losses. The bottom of the basin is insulated for decreasing
the dissipation rate.

1.2. Classification of solar stills

Many recent researchers have studied and investigated differ­
ent types of solar stills using different designs and configura­
tions in active and passive types of solar stills. Single and
double inclined slope solar stills are two different types in
solar stills that come under passive type solar stills and authors
found that double slope solar stills are better than single slope
solar stills (Reif and Alhalabi 2015). Experiments were per­
formed on active solar stills by employing flat plate collectors, Figure 2. Classification of passive solar stills.

SOLAR
DESALINATION

Direct Indirect

Humidification- Multi flash Membrane

Multi effect Electro dialysis Reverse osmosis
Solar still Dehumidificatio desalination distillation
desalination
n

Figure 1. Classifications of different solar desalination technologies.


Figure 3. Classification of Inclined solar stills.
1.3.1. External and internal modifications to enhance the
yield rate
Conventional solar still is the basic still which gives less pro­
ductivity so to enhance the evaporation rate, thermal conduc­
tivity, heat transfer rate, and efficiency of the still the following
strategies can be used to rise all the above mentioned
properties:
(i) Improving the design of solar still.
(ii) Using special absorbing materials. (Black gravel,
sponge cubes)
(iii) Adding reflectors and collectors to the still basin.
(iv) Rising the insulation thickness
(v) Decreasing the depth of water
(vi) Still integrated with PCM
(vii) Adding nanoparticles and adding nanocomposites
(viii) Adding heat transfer fluid (HTF) and nanoparticles
In the current review paper, the various researches and recent
technologies on solar stills for enhancing its productivity, effi­
ciency, and evaporative rate are presented. Many considerations
have been taken into account to enhance the properties and
found some of the highlights in changing the design parameters
and modifying the still with the addition of external and internal
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of simple solar still using flat plate collector (Badran and Al-Tahaineh 2005).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 3
sources. But upon research, it was found that there is a great
scope in using nanofluids and PCM in solar still which increases
the thermal properties of the system. So, further discussion is
majorly based on nanofluids and PCM integrated solar stills.
2. SOLAR STILLS INTEGRATED WITH COLLECTORS
AND CONCENTRATORS
Various augmentation technologies are organized to improve
the productivity and the efficiency of the solar still.
Augmentation technologies comprise a parabolic concentrator,
flat plate collector, and evacuated tube collector. On incorpor­
ating the flat plate collectors to the solar still, there is an
increase in the temperature of the brackish water for the better
improvement of efficiency and productivity. Badran and Al-
Tahaineh have investigated the effect of coupling a flat plate
collector to the solar still through an experimental study shown
in Figure 4. The investigation reveals that parameters like
depth of water, still direction, radiation intensity which also
play a vital role in improving the solar still productivity. The
flat plate collector increases productivity by 36% and also if the
water depth is decreased then the productivity increases. In this
case, productivity increases as the solar radiation intensity
increases (Badran and Al-Tahaineh 2005).
In an evacuated tube collector the water is passed fraction­
ally through natural circulation and it depends upon the col­
lector area. Ragh Vendra et al. conducted an experiment on
solar still incorporated with evacuated tube collectors in nat­
ural circulation mode and analyzed the thermal performance of
the experimental setup shown in Figure 5. The exergy and
energy efficiencies decrease with an increase in the depth of
the water in the basin. By the observation, it is shown that
integrating the evacuated tube collector with solar still
increases the yield and also increases the temperature of the
water in the basin. In this experimentation, the obtained energy
and exergy efficiencies are 33.0% and 2.5% (Singh et al. 2013).
Shiv Kumar et al. have made an experimental setup of solar still
using an evacuated tube collector and observed the perfor­
mance of the still by forced circulation mode. Through experi­
mentation, it was found that the rate of yield outcome is higher
than the natural circulation mode (Kumar, Dubey, and Tiwari
2014). An experimental analysis has been carried out to reduce
the hardness of the water by integrating the solar desalination
4 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 5. Schematic diagram of solar still using evacuated tube collector (Kedar, Kumaravel, and Bewoor 2019).
system with the compound parabolic concentrator. They have
produced approximately 3–4 liters of soft water per hour
(Kedar, Arul Raj, and Bewoor 2018). The same authors have
investigated experimentally on solar desalination systems using
an evacuated tube collector. The results revealed that the
experimental analysis has given 27–28 liters of soft water
per day (Kedar, Kumaravel, and Bewoor 2019). The maximum
yield obtained in this experiment was 3.8 kg/m2 per day.
Absorbing materials like marbles are also helpful in enhancing
the evaporation rate in turn increases productivity (Panchal
et al. 2017).
3. SOLAR STILLS INTEGRATED WITH EXTERNAL
REFLECTORS AND INTERNAL FINS
Water is one of man’s most fundamental requirements, and
freshwater is in high demand due to the world’s growing
population. Many authors studied about various technologies
for getting desalinated water from saltwater and found some
effective technology using PCM and reflector where there will
Figure 6. Double slope solar still with fins and Double slope solar still with a reflector (Gnanaraj and Velmurugan 2019).
be a high rate of yield per day. So, the freshwater scarcity in the
world is getting reduced rapidly (Takawade et al. 2018). In the
process of the experimental study, it was revealed that solar
stills integrated with PCM and reflectors gave more productiv­
ity. From observation, there is an increase in productivity of
10.25% with PCM integrated with the solar still. Gnanaraj and
Velmurugan performed a study on double slope solar still with
a single basin for enhancing its performance. There are exter­
nal and internal modifications that can increase the distillate
production by incorporating reflectors (Gnanaraj and
Velmurugan 2019) as the external modifications and still with
corrugated fins and still with wick material as the internal
modifications as shown in Figure 6. The still with black granite
and wick material can store heat for a long period and it is
useful during night times with good productivity. The produc­
tivity is increased one-third of its total productivity when
reflectors are incorporated. The solar water heating system
has been analyzed analytically using heat pipe and evacuated
tubes by Sakthivel and Reddy (Sakthivel and Reddy 2019). The
same authors have conducted an experiment to assess the
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 5

performance of the solar ground still for different depths of Table 1. Classifications of PCM.
saline water. They concluded that the still productivity for ORGANIC
20 mm, 30 mm, and 40 mm have been observed as 2.01 kg/ MATERIALS INORGANIC MATERIALS EUTECTIC MATERIALS
Advantages: Advantages: Advantages:
m2, 2.45 kg/m2, and 2.19 kg/m2 respectively (Sakthivel, Akram, It has no corrosive It has higher phase change Ability to obtain desired
and Noor Mahammed 2019). Essa et al. made a study on solar nature enthalpy properties like melting
still experimentally by modifying it using wick material, inter­ point and high heat
storage capacity
nal reflectors, and external condenser with different depths of It has thermal and The high heat of fusion and It has high-temperature
water. The outcome of the experiment was an increase in chemical stability available at a low cost stability when phases
productivity by 180% higher than the conventional still are complex
Disadvantages: Disadvantages: Disadvantages:
(Omara, Kabeel, and Essa 2015). Murali et al. have carried It has low phase It has low thermal stability Its microstructure is
out several experiments on aluminum can air heater which change enthalpy complex
was prepared by aluminum scrap and pebble stones with dif­ It has a low thermal It has low or undercooling Lack of presently available
conductivity test data of
ferent flow rates. The output of all the experiments was very thermophysical
high when aluminum was used because of its high thermal properties
conductivity and good thermophysical properties (Murali et al. Examples: Examples: Examples:
Paraffin Salt hydrates, metallics, Inorganic-Inorganic,
2019a). The same author separately used the rectangular fins compounds, non- aluminum, copper, Organic-Organic,
made up of aluminum scrap with three different flow rates paraffin sodium sulfate, sodium Inorganic-Organic
integrating with a collector. This experiment was examined compounds, thiosulfate
stearic acid
and concluded that collector efficiency and heat transfer coeffi­
cient has increased by 69.47% & 4% respectively by using fins
(Murali et al. 2019c).
Murali et al. conducted an experiment on a double pass stills are designed with single and double slope incorporated
solar air heater by integrating fins to upper and lower channels with PCM and many authors conducted experiments and
with three different mass flow rates. The author concluded that found that still with double slope was 85% greater than the
as the mass flow rate increases the thermal performance of the still with single slope (Panchal et al. 2017). Kabeel and
system increases for the lower channel than the upper channel Abdelgaied conducted the experiments and compared the
(Murali et al. 2019b). The performance of a square pyramid results of single slope solar still with PCM and conventional
solar still (SPSS) has been analyzed experimentally by solar still shown in Figure 7. The experiments have been
Saravanan and Murugan in the presence of various vertical conducted from June to July 2015 under the atmospheric
wick materials. The results indicated that the water depth of conditions of Tanta city (Egypt). It was found that the pro­
2 cm has provided 14.4%, 23.1%, 31.3%, and 39.6% higher ductivity of freshwater reached 7.54 L/m 2 per day with PCM
productivity than 3, 4, 5, and 6 cm basin water depths, respec­ and without PCM (conventional) it was found that produc­
tively (Saravanan and Murugan 2020). tivity was 4.51 L/m2. In this experimental procedure, the
By observing, all the external and internal modifications on copper plate was used as the absorber plate. During the time
single basin double slope solar still, the daily production of of low radiation intensity, there should be a difference in
conventional still is 1880 ml/m2 per day and productivity with temperature between the absorber plate and the transparent
external modifications (reflectors) is 3655 ml/m2 per day. The plate. So, this absorber plate must be merged with the glass
productivity with internal modifications (corrugated fin) is plate. Eventually, there is 67% improvement in productivity
3210 ml/m2 per day (Panchal and Mohan 2017). by the addition of PCM than the conventional still produc­
tivity (Kabeel and Abdelgaied 2016).
Sivakandhan et al. investigated the fins with different geo­
4. SOLAR STILLS INCORPORATED WITH PCM
metries to know its enhancement rate along with PCM. The
Phase change materials are broadly used in energy efficiency author has taken cylindrical, spiral, and circular-shaped fins
resources for thermal storage purposes. PCM’s are fascinating and examined the performance of every fin individually. The
because they can store and absorb the heat energy as the phase output of using spiral fins along with PCM was higher and
changes from solid to liquid and releases the heat energy when enhanced its energy efficiency by 25% (Sivakandhan, Murali,
the phase changes from liquid to solid. PCM’s are chemically and Suresh Prabhu 2018).
inert and nonflammable and the merits and demerits of various Heat transfer fluid (HTF) is also another source that helps in
types of PCM are listed in Table 1 absorbing more amount of solar energy and releases it when
To maximize productivity and to emancipate the radiation radiation is not available. The HTF can be mixed with nano­
in solar still, some of the authors investigated and performed particles which helps in increasing the absorption rate. And
some experiments by integrating PCM in solar still. The when this heat transfer fluid is added to basin water, it helps in
authors found that during the daytime, instead of dissipating improving the evaporation rate. Cheng et al. conducted an
the radiation to surrounding when it is excess, the PCM experiment and found that the theoretical performance of
absorbs it and release it back to the water for evaporation a still by using shape stabilized PCM as shown in Figure 8.
purpose during the night time or when the sunlight is not The outcome is considerably incremented in daily productivity
available. Further, it was noticed from the study that the by using SSPCM when compared to the still without SSPCM.
productivity of solar still increases with an increase in surface This experimentation consists of pyramid-shaped glass over
area and mass of the PCM (El-Sebaii et al. 2009). The solar a basin with stainless steel and graphite as absorber plates in
6 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 7. Experimental installation of solar still incorporated with and without PCM (Kabeel and Abdelgaied 2016).
Figure 8. Experimental setup of classic and modified shape stabilized solar stills
integrated with PCM (Cheng, Huo, and Nian 2019).
conventional and the modified solar stills respectively. This
experimentation has been done to prove the feasibility of the
SSPCM (Cheng, Huo, and Nian 2019).
Number of experiments have been experimented to
increase the still efficiency by using the different types and
shapes of absorbers in addition to PCM (Aishwarya and
Ranchani 2017; Kantesh. 2012; Sundaram and Senthil 2016).
Shalaby et al. have conducted an experimental investigation
of solar still using PCM and integrated with a V -corrugated
absorber as shown in Figure 9. Paraffin wax was chosen as
PCM because of its safety and less cost. During the experi­
mental observation, it was found that solar still using PCM
beneath the basin integrated with V-corrugated by using less
mass of water can give the best thermal performance. It was
noticed that productivity improvement is because of wick
material and PCM. From observations, the results of solar
still without PCM, with PCM, combining PCM and wick are
0.07182,0.08367,0.09558 respectively (Shalaby, El-Bialy, and
El-Sebaii 2016).
Thermal energy is perfectly absorbed or released by
PCM materials because of their good phase transition prop­
erties at lower temperature variations. It is the most impor­
tant part of the latent heat storage system and is 10 times
higher than the sensible heat storage system. PCMs have
been used in a wide range of solar thermal applications like
heating and cooling of buildings. But due to its disadvan­
tage of low thermal conductivity, the efficiency of thermal
energy storage has been decreasing during the transport of
energy. To overcome this disadvantage, further investiga­
tions have been done by integrating PCM with nanoparti­
cles to enhance the thermal conductivity which is discussed
in the below subtopics.
5. SOLAR STILLS INCORPORATED WITH
NANOPARTICLES
Nanotechnology is the growing field in industrial, medical,
electrical, and thermal applications and Choi from the United
States originated the first nanofluid in 1995. Nanoparticles are
liquid-solid composite materials with a very small size which
helps to mix with the solid materials and can be easily stuffed
into the tubes for absorbing the heat. Nanoparticles are
a good absorption medium they are the cause to increase
the efficiency and evaporative rate of the still (Dhillon and
Kumar 2019). Nanoparticles are made up of metallic items
and help in metal degradation but nanoparticles are having
high toxicity so they cannot be used directly. So, this nano­
fluid should be mixed with a basic fluid such as engine oil,
water, ethylene glycol but if nanomaterials mixed with pure
fluid need a long time to stabilize themselves. There are some
classifications of nanomaterials which are represented in
Figure 10.
5.1. Preparation of nanofluid
Typically, the preparation of nanofluids has two methods, one
is a one-step method and the other is a two-step method. The

Figure 9. A simple solar still integrated with V-corrugated absorber with PCM (Shalaby, El-Bialy, and El-Sebaii 2016).
Figure 10. Structures of nanoparticles a. Clusters and 0D spheres, b. 1D nanowires,
nanofibers, nanorods, c. 2D nanoplates, nanofilms, networks, d. 3D nanomaterials.
first method is produced by dispersing the nanoparticles with
the base fluids during the manufacturing process. On the other
hand, in the two-step method, dispersion and manufacturing
will take place separately. The one-step method is applicable to
produce dry nanoparticles and the two-step method is used to
produce the nanofluids. The standard procedure of the two-
step method is shown in Figure 11 (Yang and Du 2017)
5.2. Types of nanoparticles based on their thermal
conductivities
Different nanoparticles are having their properties which give
various outcomes in the efficiency of the desalination system.
Thermal conductivity is the most concentrating factor to
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 7
choose an absorbing material for absorbing and storing more
amount of heat. Thermal conductivities of the nanoparticles
are given in Table No.2
Nanoparticles can be easily fluidized inside the solid mate­
rial or in the base fluid due to their small size. Nanoparticles
help to prevent clogging and corrosion and moreover less
concentration of nanoparticles is required to increase produc­
tivity. Adding nanocomposites increases the efficiency of still,
the thermal conductivity of HTF, the thermal storage capacity
of HTF, the temperature of saline water, thermal properties of
the material (Kabeel et al. 2017). Al2O3 and Cuo are commonly
used as nanoparticles. CuO, TiO2, SnO2, Cu, Fe2O3, and Sic are
also be used as nanoparticles along with the base fluids. Many
of the researchers have stated that if the concentration of
nanoparticles is increased then there will be an increase in
productivity of still.
Nanofluids are efficiently used in the desalination process to
enhance the heat transfer rate and productivity. Nanofluids are
used in single slope and double slope solar stills with less
amount of concentration. PCM has less thermal conductivity
so when these nanofluids it added with PCM it helps to enrich
the thermal conductivity of the material. Many recent
researches have investigated the performance of solar stills
experimentally using nanofluids and nanocomposites (PCM
+Nano fluid). Bhupendra Gupta et al. conducted an experi­
ment by comparing the modified and conventional single slope
solar still by adding the nanoparticles (CuO) to basin water
(Gupta et al. 2016). The addition of nanoparticles increases the
thermal characteristics by increasing the heat transfer area
(Bonadies 2019). The outcome of the experiment with nano­
particles gives 3445 ml/m2 per day and without nanoparticles,
the productivity is 2814 ml/m2 per day. The authors concluded
that by adding nanoparticles, there will be an increase in
evaporation rate, heat transfer coefficient, and thermal con­
ductivity(Zhu et al. 2009).
Many studies have been performed on experimental and
analytical exploration on the solar single and double slope
stills amalgamated with different types of nanofluids. Zaib
8 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 11. Preparation flowchart of nanofluid by the two-step method.
and Hassa have reviewed the technologies of solar desalina­
tion and found that carbon nanomaterials came into focus
based on their properties and direct participation in the
desalination process (Zaib and Faith 2012). Membrane
technology is one of the desalination techniques, mostly
interlinked to the carbon nanotube. The survey has shown
that usage of carbon nanoparticles will enrich the capacity
and efficiency of the system (Abdelal and Taamneh 2017;
Lee 2019).
Several experiments have been done by comparing the dif­
ferent types of nanoparticles in solar stills to improve the
thermal properties of the solar still. Sathyamurthy et al. corre­
lated the three stepped solar stills using different nanoparticles
and compared the productivity and the efficiencies of each still
case. One of the stills was used with MgO nanoparticles which
were observed as the most efficient still and another still used
with TiO2 nanoparticles which are less efficient than MgO
nanoparticles. The basin was fabricated with mild steel and to
avoid heat losses to the environment sawdust has been used as
the insulation material shown in Figure 12. Nanoparticles were
used in two different concentrations and found that there is an
improvement in production by 53.23% for MgO and 41.62%
for TiO2 and also there is a rise in evaporative heat transfer rate
than the conventional stepped solar still (Sathyamurthy et al.
2019).
Figure 12. Experimental setup of stepped solar stills with different kind of nanoparticles (Sathyamurthy et al. 2019).
Nanoparticles are efficient absorbing material and if we add
it to black or white paint in the basin of the still it starts
absorbing more amount of radiation. Experiments have been
carried out by using black paint and white paint mixing with
nanoparticles (Boruah, Borthakur, and Das 2019). Manoj et al.
examined experimentally the effect of nanoparticles in the solar
still which is given in Figure 13. So, the cuprous oxides have
chosen as nanoparticles and added to the black paint where it
was coated to the basin of still for water storage. The nanopar­
ticles were added to only some concentration i.e. 10% to 40%.
Adding the nanoparticles has shown an increase in heat trans­
fer rate and an increase in the temperature of the saline water
(Sain and Kumawat 2015). The authors concluded that the
productivity and evaporation rate has been increased by 25%
more than the conventional solar still (Abhinavkr and
Harikumar, 2015; Kabeel et al. 2017; Shalaby, El-Bialy, and El-
Sebaii 2016). Bhupendra et al. has compared experimentally
the modified still with a combination of white paint nanoma­
terials and water sprinkler and a conventional still which is
shown in Figure 14. The temperature of transparent glass, the
temperature of basin water, and temperature of the environ­
ment were recorded on an hourly basis, and during experi­
mentation, the authors found that there is an increase in
productivity of 4000 ml/m2 per day with nanoparticle whereas
conventional still is 2900 ml/m2 per day, thermal conductivity

Figure 13. Conventional and modified still in addition with black paint and nanoparticle (Sain and Kumawat 2015).
Figure 14. Solar still modified with a white paint nanoparticle and a water sprinkler (Gupta, Kumar, and Barderar 2017).
by 20% and efficiency by 5% than the conventional stills. By
investigating the experimental setup, the authors stated that
due to an increase in heat transfer rate and the temperature of
saline water, the productivity and evaporative rate is increased
(Gupta, Kumar, and Barderar 2017)
Many of the researchers have done the experiments by
comparing the different types of nanoparticles using in differ­
ent concentrations. Sahota and Tiwari have examined experi­
mentally and analytically the outcome of nanofluids on the
efficiency of double slope solar still and its characteristic
curve. The authors have made an analytical expression on
passive double slope solar still by considering three different
nanofluids of its concentration. They found that thermal
exergy, thermal energy efficiency, and yield have increased to
a high level when compared with a base fluid and also the
authors identified that the concentration enhancement of
nanoparticles increases the productivity (Dongre 2018;
Khanafer and Vafai 2015; Sahota and Tiwari 2016b).
Sharshir et al. had built a comparative study of modified
solar still and a conventional still based on their thermal
properties as shown in Figure 15. The modified still consists
of brackish water mixed with graphite or cuprous oxide nano­
particles. Exergy analysis was made on various parts of solar
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 9
still namely glass plate, brine water, basin plate. The convective
evaporative heat transfer coefficient was also stated. The energy
efficiency (41.18%), productivity, evaporation rate, and exergy
efficiencies (4.23%) of modified solar still have improved than
the conventional solar still (Sharshir et al. 2018). Murugan et al.
has made research work on solar still for increasing its pro­
ductivity by using two different metallic nanofluids, aluminum
oxide, and copper oxide with different concentration. The
experimental investigation was carried out and found that
there is an increase in productivity by using aluminum oxide
is 26.31% and copper oxide is 34.59%. The authors have stated
that adding nanoparticles not only increases productivity but
also increases the basin fluid temperature (Elango, Kannan,
and Kalidasa Murugavel 2015; Moon et al. 2015; Sain and
Kumawat 2015).
Thermal conductivity plays a major character in improving
the productivity of the still. Essa et al. made an experimental
investigation to observe the effect of nanofluids of aluminum
and cuprous oxides. The author made an investigation on the
same experimental setup using internal reflectors and wick
material but by the observation, he determined that the effect
of using nanoparticles has made productivity by 285.10% more
than the conventional type still (Takawade et al. 2018). Wei Yu
10 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 15. Experimental setup of a simple solar still using nanoparticles (Sharshir et al. 2018).
et al. made a study on thermal conductivities by using nano­
fluids containing graphene oxide sheets. The outcome is an
increase in thermal conductivity due to thermal conductivity
and the high stability of nanofluids. As the concentration of
nanoparticles increases then the thermal conductivity
increases. Graphene sheets are becoming more useful means
for purification of water and many researchers have been done
and concluded that there is a large quantity which can be used
for the large-scale purpose (Ahmed, Giwa, and Hasan 2019;
Perreault, Fonseca De Faria, and Elimelech 2015; Yu, Xie, and
Bao 2010). Qian et al. have made a study that black materials
are the main components that are used for the conversion of
radiation energy into heat energy, but only black materials
cannot conserve solar energy to the fullest. The author studied
and developed a popcorn concept where the copper carbodii­
mide analyses copper blended in the N-doped graphene which
increases the capacity of absorbing solar energy (Xu et al.
2018). Modified solar still using nanofluids are becoming an
emerging area in industrial, household applications. Wenjing
Chen (Chen et al. 2017) made an experiment using silicon
carbide (SiC) as a nanomaterial and found that it has the
highest stability and optical parameters which help in rising
the thermal conductivity and productivity. The author con­
cluded that the addition of nanoparticles increases the thermal
conductivity of the base fluid by 5.2%.
Evaporation of the basin water is the major factor for
condensation and pure water is not having the great prop­
erty of absorbing more amount of solar energy. Hota et al.
made a parametrical study on the materials which can
absorb more amount of solar energy and found that active
carbon as powdered form can be used with water which
increases the evaporation rate. The study additionally
reveals that the evaporative efficiency increases, as the size
of the particles is less than the wavelength of the solar
spectrum the evaporative efficiency increases. The outcome
is the increase in evaporative efficiency by 57.3% and 38.4%
for 80 nm and 8 micrometer-sized particles respectively
(Hota and Diaz 2019). Numerical simulation was also
performed to analyze the behavior of fluid inside the still.
Rashidi et al. carried out a numerical simulation on simple
and stepped type solar still by using the properties of Al2O3
and found the amount of entropy generation and produc­
tivity in the enclosed area of the still. The outcome of the
simulation is an increase in Nusselt number by 18% due to
the addition of solid nanoparticles and these results are
validated with the results of experimentation (Auriemma
and Iazzetta 2016; Rashidi et al. 2018a, 2018b).
Nanomaterials have been gained good attention after the
investigations on phase change materials, due to their different
structure and flexibility in energy applications. These nanoma­
terials are the recent advanced technologies that show great
advantages in solar thermal applications by enhancing their
efficiency. So, these nanoparticles will play a major role in the
energy storage sector, energy conversion applications. As these
nanomaterials have a versatile structure it was named as
a composite material that consists of a different combination
of metals, metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, etc. Further,
researchers have made some investigations on energy storage
using nanomaterials individually which has shown a great
result in efficiency and productivity of the solar still. Some of
the experimental investigations were discussed in the below
content and also compared with different PCM materials are
shown in a tabular form.
6. SOLAR STILLS INTEGRATED WITH NANOPARTICLES
AND PCM
However, there were good results in using nanomaterials but
still, investigations have been continued in the concentration of
improving the thermal conductivity of PCMs. Nanotechnology
is a new area of research that has good thermophysical proper­
ties and the potential to enhance the properties of other mate­
rials. So, due to this property nanomaterials are combined with
PCMs to examine the changes of PCM properties in the appli­
cation of heat energy storage.

Because of the abrupt rise in energy generation capacity of
the usage of renewable sources has become an effective means
for storing energy. To magnify the productivity and efficiency
of still, PCM has become the most attractive area (Murugan
et al. 2018). PCM is characterized as the most fetching option
for medium and low range temperature energy applications
(Chen et al. 2019). PCM is a good absorbing material, but it has
a small transition temperature range (Al-Jethelah et al. 2018).
Many of the modern research works are focusing on PCM to
increase energy-saving and paraffin is mostly used PCM due to
its less weight & chemical stability. But because of its low
thermal conductivity, it does not give an efficient output
(Clements-Croome 2016). So, various works have been carried
out in recent years by the addition of nanoparticles to PCM
could enhance the thermal conductivity of PCM as well as
increases the efficiency of the still by decreasing the charging
time, and this NPCM combination has shown tremendous
results in improving thermal properties of PCM.
Khodadadi et al. designed and fabricated for comparing
solar stills experimentally and theoretically using PCM and
PCM-Nano composite (NPCM) shown in Figure 16. It was
found that the yield of solar still alone with PCM is 1.96 kg/
0.5 m2 and with nano PCM (NPCM) it was identified as
2.64 kg/0.5 m2. The result of using nanoparticles with PCM is
almost 35% more than the solar still only with PCM. So, the
authors concluded that the absorbing capacity, productivity,
storage capacity is more for nano PCM comparatively than
PCM by observing the results. Further, the storage time has
increased by using nano PCM. Several types of research have
been conducted experiments using different nanoparticles but
cuprous oxide is the best and efficient nanoparticle among all
(Khodadadi and Hosseinizadeh 2007). Shalaby et al. made an
extensive study to rise the thermal properties of paraffin wax
which has to be used as latent thermal energy storage in solar
desalination by using aluminum oxide as a nanomaterial. The
two samples were considered with 3% concentration and the
thermal properties of two samples were measured with the
analyzer and found that the addition of nanomaterial will not
only increase the thermal conductivity by 18.6% but also
increases the thermal effusivity by 28.2%. The author made
a comparison study among nanoparticles and stated that
Figure 16. Experimental setup of the solar still integrated with PCM and NPCM (Khodadadi and Hosseinizadeh 2007).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 11
cuprous oxide is the best nanoparticle than aluminum oxide
(Babapoor and Karimi 2015; Shalaby et al. 2018).
Investigations have made studies on different nanoparticles
and found a new invention of graphite particles as nanomater­
ials came into the picture. Sharshir et al. have performed an
experimental investigation by modifying the conventional still
employed with flake graphite particles as nanoparticles, PCM,
and film cooling is shown schematically in Figure 17 and found
the effects of these three materials on productivity, rate of
evaporation, and the efficiency of the solar still. The authors
stated that using of these three materials, productivity has
increased by 73.8% as compared to conventional still
(Sharshir et al. 2017).
Murugan et al. made a research on the solidification and
melting characteristics of NPCM. The author used paraffin as
PCM and multi-wall carbon nanotubes as nanoparticles that
have high conductivity. It was noticed that the maximum
change of latent heat between the PCM and NPCM was 7.6%
and 11%. The author concluded that the percentage change in
latent heat decreases by adding a smaller number of nanopar­
ticles. The structures of multi-walled carbon nanotubes were
referred in Figure 18 (Al-Jethelah et al. 2018; Chen et al. 2019;
Murugan et al. 2018).
Some of the authors compared the conventional still and
the effect of PCM and NPCM on the still in their studies.
Elfasakhany et al. have done an experimental investigation
by considering three different cases namely with PCM,
Without PCM, and PCM with nanoparticles as shown in
Figure 19. Paraffin wax and CuO were used as PCM and
nanoparticles respectively. As the thermal conductivity of
paraffin wax is less, nanoparticles addition increases its effi­
ciency of working, thermal conductivity, and storing capa­
city. The authors stated that the productivity of case 3 is
more than case 2 and case 1 and further it was observed that
adding the nanoparticles not only increases thermal conduc­
tivity but also increases the storage capacity and efficiency.
The storage time increases by using PCM and NPCM
(Elfasakhany 2016; Lin and Al-Kayiem 2016).
Al-Jethelah et al. used CuO nanoparticles dispersing in
coconut oil PCM to improve the melting process in the desa­
lination system. The author conducted experimental as well as
12 N. V. ET AL.

Figure 17. Schematic diagram of solar stills using nanoparticles and PCM in different stills (Sharshir et al. 2017).

Figure 18. SEM Images of multiwall carbon nanotubes with 32 and 46 nm diameter (Yu, Xie, and Bao 2010).

Figure 19. Experimental setup of solar still using paraffin and Nano PCM (Elfasakhany 2016).

numerical analysis to monitor the effect of nanoparticles Rufuss et al. studied the effects of nanoparticles TiO2 and
encapsulating PCM in enhancing the melting process (Al- CuO encapsulated with phase change materials and found
Jethelah et al. 2018; Biswas et al. 2014). that there is a rise in thermal conductivity by adding

nanoparticles and a decrease in solidification and melting
temperatures (Dsilva Winfred Rufuss et al. 2016, 2015,
2018). Asbik et al. have made an exergy analysis to deter­
mine the exergy losses during the charging and discharging
process from the system. The outcome of the analysis
increases productivity and reduces the exergy losses by
using PCM (Asbik et al. 2016).
Many researchers have experimented and characterized the
thermal properties of different PCM’s which are prepared by
polymerization. Fang et al. used nanocapsules as the phase
change material and N-tetradecane as the core material. The
author made an investigation on thermal properties and found
that the use of N-tetradecane increases the latent heat of fusion
to a very high rate and the use of nanocapsules enhances the
storage capacity and the heat transfer (Fang et al. 2009).
Harikrishnan et al. made an investigation on the properties of
CuO-oleic acid when it is used as the phase change material.
CuO nanoparticles are diffused in oleic acid and these nano­
particles are prepared by a two-step method. The author con­
cluded by all the observations that a combination of this CuO
and oleic acid can be efficaciously used for cooling thermal
energy storage applications (Harikrishnan and Kalaiselvam
2012). Harikrishnan et al. have also investigated the storage
behavior using stearic acid and TiO2 as phase change material.
This TiO2 is diffused in stearic acid and phase change tem­
peratures are determined and the author concluded that this
kind of PCM can be used for low-temperature range energy
applications (Harikrishnan, Magesh, and Kalaiselvam 2013).
Similar to the above-mentioned paper, Motahar et al. have
made an investigation on TiO2 and n-octadecene as a phase
change material (Motahar et al. 2014). Sciacovelli et al. made
a numerical investigation on thermal energy storage during the
melting of PCM and also the effect of nanoparticles on the
enhancement of productivity. The simulation results have
shown that there is a reduction in melting time by 15% by
using 4% volume fraction of nano-enhanced PCM. The rate of
mass flow of the working fluid also affects the phase change
process and it reduces the time for melting when the mass flow
rate is doubled (Sciacovelli, Colella, and Verda 2013).
Many investigators have made studies and investigated
the behaviors of the change in the thermal properties of
the materials. Sharma et al. made an investigation experi­
mentally on the behavior of the phase change of the nano­
particles (TiO2) used and the palmitic acid. The
nanoparticles are diffused into the palmitic acid by different
mass fractions 0.3%, 1% ,3%, and 5% and changes in thermal
properties were investigated. The study shows that adding
nanoparticles of TiO2 betters the thermal and chemical sta­
bility (Sharma et al. 2016). Shi et al. have made a study for
improving the thermal conductivity of the paraffin using
nanofluids called nano graphite additives. The author fabri­
cated the composite by dispersing paraffin in graphene nano­
platelets with the solvent evaporation method. The results
were observed and found that there is an enhancement in
the thermal conductivity of paraffin and graphene nanopla­
telets than with paraffin and graphene. The shape stability
also has been increased paraffin with graphene is 185.7% and
paraffin with graphene nanoplatelets is 67.5%. The results
show that the thermal conductivity and stability are vice-
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 13
versa (Akash et al. 1998; Biswas et al. 2014; Shi et al. 2013).
Shanmugan et al. made a contrastive experiment by using
PCM, nanoparticles (Al2O3), fins, and the wick material
(Shanmugan, Palani, and Janarthanan 2018) in the solar
still and the outcome was an enhancement in efficiency
and productivity of the still at a very higher rate (Al-
Jethelah et al. 2018).
Few other recent developments have been done in solar still
to enhance the parameters at a higher rate. Among them, Arun
behura et al. was one and he experimented with a solar still
setup using nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM).
The author used a V-corrugated sheet with CuO nanoparticles
and a PCM under it to avoid heat losses inside the still. He
examined that there will be a saturated air under the glass cover
which makes the evaporation process slow and increases the
heat losses. In an account of all these disadvantages, the author
experimented with the still to look over the productivity by
taking different weight ratios (0.1%,0.2%,0.3%) of nanoparti­
cles. The results of productivity were higher for 0.3% weight
concentration of nanoparticles in paraffin wax and it was
510 ml/0.25 m2/day (Behura and Gupta 2020).
The present technology is focusing on energy conservation
by the means of PCM which can reduce greenhouse gas emis­
sions and also energy consumption. The main focus has kept
on to the addition of nanoparticles to PCM which helps in
increasing the properties and improves the amount of energy
stored/released. This technique of adding nanoparticles to
PCMs is being used in many of the applications such as ther­
mal control unit (TCU), thermal energy storage (TES), solar
still, electric battery vehicles.
Liu Yang et al. have made an updated review of all of the
applications which are being used with NEPCMs. The author
has concluded that the advantage of PCM is high enthalpy and
the disadvantage is less thermal conductivity. And this thermal
conductivity can be 100% increased by adding nanoparticles to
t0 PCMs (Yang, Huang, and Zhou 2020).
Energy storage in the form of sensible heat or latent heat is
the perfect method in improving the performance of solar still.
So normal still gives less performance and because of it, Kabeel
et al. conducted an experiment using tubular type solar still
which is shown in Figure 20. The author used three different
stills, 1.solar still, 2.solar still with PCM, 3.solar still with
NPCM. The author added graphene oxide to PCM to increase
its thermal conductivity. If we add nanoparticle to PCM it
improves the evaporation rate and all the parameters which
help in enhancing the performance of a still. After all the
observations the thermal conductivity was improved by 52%
for NPCM when compared with PCM and efficiency by 50.85%
(Kabeel et al. 2020).
Solar desalination is the best sustainable way to get fresh
water through a renewable energy source. But the output yield
for a conventional solar still is about 2–51/m2/day. So Arun
Kumar has made a review on all the different solar stills with
modifications that can give more than 51 ml yield per day
(Arunkumar et al. 2019). Hasan Mousa et al. have made an
experimental study and an analysis over the solar still using
tricosane as PCM. The PCM at different PCM to the mass of
water ratio (0,0.17,0.35) was placed in copper tubes which are
immersed in constant 3liter water. The author observed the two
14 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 20. Schematic diagram of tubular solar stills with PCM and nanomaterials (Kabeel et al. 2020).
zones called charging and discharging during the experimenta­
tion process increase as the amount of PCM increases. Finally,
the author gave a conclusion that the discharging zone is pro­
minent because the temperature remains constant at the time of
the melting of PCM (Mousaa et al. 2019). Kabeel et al. performed
an experiment on pyramid type solar still by using TiO2 nano­
particles to enhance the performance by design and yield by
adding nanoparticles. This experimentation has shown 1.5°C
increase in water temperature when used nanoparticles than
conventional still. The author used nanoparticles directly to the
basin plate without any other storage medium. The observed
result of yield was 6.1% more than the conventional still (Kabeel
et al. 2018). T. Arunkumar et al. made an experiment using CuO
coated to stainless steel by thermal evaporation technique and
the schematic view of technique is represented in Figure 21 . The
author used CuO nanostructured absorber plate with polyvinyl
alcohol (PVA) sponges placing in a solar still. The author inves­
tigated four different stills and the highest yield was obtained
only when both nanostructured absorber plate & PVA are used
(Arunkumar et al. 2018).
Nanoparticles are the more efficient source for enhancing
the productivity, efficiency of the desalination system than
PCM and concentrators (Saw and Owolabi 2018; Sciacovelli,
Colella, and Verda 2013). Many researchers have studied and
conducted experiments using different types of nanofluids in
Figure 21. Schematic view of thermal evaporation technique (Arunkumar et al.
2018).
solar still and examined that there is an increase in different
parameters which will indirectly yield to increase productivity
per day (Khodadadi and Hosseinizadeh 2007; Shin and
Banerjee 2015).”). The enhancement in productivity by using
different nanofluids was noted and stated in the below
Fig. 22(a) & Fig. 22(b)
From Fig.22(a) it can be concluded that increasing the
concentration of nanoparticles dispersed in the base fluid will
enhance the distillate rate per day.
From Fig.22(b) it can be observed that aluminum oxide
gives the best result in enhancing the production per day
among the 4 different nanoparticles.
The following figures 23(a) & Fig. 23(b) discloses the effects
and importance of using different nanoparticles during experi­
mentation of a solar still by single and double slope design
modifications which enhances the following factors.
(a) Productivity
(b) Internal heat transfer coefficient
(c) Thermal conductivity
(d) Storage capacity
(e) Efficiency
7. EFFECT OF VARIOUS MATERIALS ON
PRODUCTIVITY OF A SOLAR STILL
The below shown Table 2 and Figure 24 are from a thorough
study on the literature part of this manuscript. It clearly gives
data on different sizes of solar still which is integrated with
various external and internal modifications to improve pro­
ductivity. So, among all those different modifications it can be
said that the still which uses NPCM as a heat storage material
has higher improvement in distillate output when compared to
all other stills. This increment in productivity tells that, adding
nanoparticles to PCM enhances the amount of heat storage.
Along with the nanoparticles, metal oxides are also showing
their efficient nature and good reactions in the performance of
the solar still.Table 3
8. FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF
SOLAR STILL
The Productivity of solar still depends upon the geometrical
parameters such as Solar radiation, Wind speed, ambient

Figure 22. Improved distillate rate of pure water by using different concentrations of nanofluids (Abdelal and Taamneh 2017). (b) Improved production of pure water
using different nanofluids (Elango, Kannan, and Kalidasa Murugavel 2015).
temperature, and design parameters Single slope, double slope,
Inclination of cover, type of solar still, insulation thickness.
These are the main factor which highly affects the distillate
output of the still. So, a proper combination of all the para­
meters must be carried out in the solar desalination investiga­
tion which helps us to meet the demand for water per day.
Some of the researchers have investigated these factors and are
discussed in this section.
8.1. Climatical conditions (Solar radiation, Wind speed,
Ambient temperature)
Climatical conditions are the geometrical conditions and
which are uncontrollable. But the intensity of solar radiation,
wind speed, and atmosphere temperature will act as the pri­
mary part in enhancing the evaporation rate. It can be said that
daily productivity is directly proportional to the intensity of
radiation and wind speed. As the velocity of wind increases
which flows through the glass cover enhances the heat transfer
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 15
and tends to increase the condensation. In particular, the
maximum efficiency will occur in the mid-day due to higher
ambient temperature. (Muftah et al. 2014)
8.2. Water depth
Water depth is a designing factor in enhancing the efficiency of
the still. Experimental investigations revealed that less depth of
water is best preferable for increasing its efficiency for 2 days
run of solar still and higher depth of water is used when still is
under climatical conditions for continues reading.(Manchanda
and Kumar 2015)
8.3. Inclination of Glass cover
Experimental studies tell that both water depth and inclination
of glass cover combinely show a good effect on the yield of solar
still. The glass tilt depends upon the area and its latitude. So, by
many investigations, it is to be said the angle of cover should
16 N. V. ET AL.
Figure 23a. Diagrammatic representation of different nanoparticles in recent studies. (b) Diagrammatic representation of different nanoparticles in recent studies
align with the latitude of the area where still is placed. This
angle of inclination helps in increasing the yield because, dur­
ing the condensation and evaporation process, the tilt of glass
helps to transfer the evaporated water as distillate output.
(Manchanda and Kumar 2015)
8.4. Thickness of glass cover
An Absorber glass plate is the main source for allowing the solar
radiation to heat the water and make it evaporate. This glass
plate must be selected with optimized thickness so that it has to
allow the radiant energy inside and it should restrict to emit
back. Experiments have been conducted using different thick­
nesses of glass plate but 3 mm thickness was best preferable and
has given the highest production rate (Sharshir et al. 2016).
8.5. Difference between absorber glass and water
The production rate normally depends on the temperature
difference between water and glass plates. The higher differ­
ence between the above mentioned two parameters will help in
increasing of evaporative rate and heat transfer rate inside
a closed still. As the evaporation increases, condensation
increases and it tends to increase the yield per hour.
According to the experimental observations, Stills with double
slope, triple basin solar still consists of a higher difference
between glass and water (Selvaraj and Natarajan 2017).
8.6. Insulation
Insulation is the primary design parameter of a solar still.
During the desalination process, there will be heat losses from
the sides of the still. Insulation helps in preventing heat losses
which intends helps to increase the efficiency of the solar still.
Various insulation materials were experimented by the
researchers with different thicknesses. Finally, through the
experimental observations, it can be understood that the
thickness of insulation is also an important factor that
depends upon the thermal conductivity of the insulation
material. If the insulating material has less thermal conduc­
tivity then the thickness should higher and vice versa.
Insulating materials such as thermocol, sawdust, glass wool,
styrofoam, polyurethane foam, expanded Polystyrene have
been investigated.106]
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 17

Figure 23b.

Table 2. Types of nanoparticles.

8.7. External modifications (Collectors, Concentrators,
Materials Nanoparticles Thermal conductivity (k)(W/mk)
Reflectors)
METALS Gold(Au) 316
Silver(Ag) 425 External modifications help the basin water to increase its tem­
Copper(Cu) 399
Aluminum(Al) 274 perature inside the still to enhance the evaporation rate. A flat
Iron(Fe) 80 plate collector is incorporated with the solar still to reheat the
Steel 45 basin water further. Here the basin water is circulated in the tube
Stainless steel 17
METAL OXIDES Alumina (Al2O3) 40 of flat plate collector so that it exchanges the heat and increases
Cupric Oxide 77 the basin water temperature. The addition of the flat plate
Iron (II, III) Oxide 7 collector tends to enhance the performance of the solar still
Titanium dioxide 8.37
Zinc Oxide 29 (Sathyamurthy et al. 2015).
CARBONS Amphorous carbon 1.59
Diamond 900–2320
Carbon Nano-fibers 13 8.8. Heat storing materials
Carbon Nanotubes 2000
C60-C70(fullerenes) 0.4 These are the materials with help solar still to store the heat
Graphite 2000
WORKING FLUIDS Water 0.609 accumulated in the daytime and to transfer it for night times.
Ethylene glycol 0.258 These materials will have the capability of storing a large amount
Engine oil 0.13 of heat received by radiation and releases it during night
18 N. V. ET AL.

120%

compared to conventional solar still

1. Single slope
100% solar still with

% Increase in productivtiy
concentrator
2. Single slope solar
80% still with heat storage
material
60% 3. Double slope solar still
with concentrator
40% 4. Double slope solar still
with heat storage material
5. Single slope solar still
20%
with PCM
6. Single slope solar still
0% with Nano particles
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. Single slope solar still
with NPCM
Types of solar still with different modifications
Figure 24. Increase in Productivity of solar still using different materials.

Table 3. Comparison of different heat storage materials used to enhance solar still productivity.
PRODUCTIVITY RATE WHEN
TYPE OF COMPARED TO ITS OWN TYPE OF
AUTHOR STILL MATERIAL CONVENTIONAL STILL CONCENTRATOR
SINGLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL WITH ONLY CONCENTRATORS
Badran et al.(Badran and Al-Tahaineh 2005) Single slope - Increased by 36% Flat plate collector
old
Singh et al.(Singh et al. 2013) Single slope - Increased by 41% Evacuated tube
collector
SINGLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL WITH ONLY HEAT STORAGE MATERIALS
A.S.Nafey et al. (Nafey et al. 2001) Single slope Black Gravel Increased by 20% No collector
Panchal et al. (Panchal et al. 2017) Single slope Sand stones Increased by 28% No collector
Panchal et al. (Panchal and Mohan 2017) Single slope Fins, river sand, charcoal Increased by 34.2% No collector
DOUBLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL WITH HEAT STORAGE MATERIALS
Joe Patrick Gnanaraj et al. (Joe Patrick Gnana raj, Double slope Stepped still Increased by 54.6% No collector
Ramachandran, and David Santosh 2017)
Kalidasa Murugavel et al. (Kalidasa Murugavel, Double slope Wick and porous material Increased by 43.4% No collector
Chockalingam, and Srithar 2008)
Gnanaraj et al. (Gnanaraj and Velmurugan 2019) Double slope 1. finned corrugated basin 1. Increased by 58.47% No collector
2. black granite 2. Increased by 69.84%
3. wick 3. Increased by 42.33%
4. reflector 4. Increased by 70.2%
SOLAR STILL WITH PCM
Kabeel et al. (Kabeel and Abdelgaied 2016) Single slope Paraffin wax Increased by 67.18% No collector
El-Sebaii et al. (El-Sebaii et al. 2009) Single slope Stearic acid Increased by 55.55% No collector
Takawade et al,(Takawade et al. 2018) Single slope Paraffin wax Increased by 49.6% Reflector
Wen-Long Cheng et al .(Cheng, Huo, and Nian 2019) Pyramid Shape stabilized Paraffin Increased by 43.3% No collector
Varun Kumar Sonker et al. (Kumar, Prasad, and Sarkar Single slope 1. Paraffin wax 1.Increased by 12.5% No collector
2019) 2. Stearic acid 2. Increased by 17.6%
3. Lauric acid 3. Increased by 21.5%
SOLAR STILL WITH NANOPARTICLES
Lovedeep Sahota et al. (Sahota and Tiwari 2016a) Double slope Al2O3 Increased by 12.5% No collector
Omara et al. (Omara, Kabeel, and Essa 2015) Single slope 1. Refelctor &External condenser 1. Increased by 180% No collector
2. Cu2o 2. Increased by 285.10%
3. Al2O3 3. Increased by 254.18%
Abdelal et al. (Abdelal and Taamneh 2017) Pyramid 5%wt. CNT Increased by 110% No collector
slope
Ravishankar Sathyamurthy et al. (Sathyamurthy et al. Stepped 1. TiO2 1. Increased by 41% No collector
2019) solar still 2. MgO 2. Increased by 61.89%
Boruah et al. (Boruah, Borthakur, and Das 2019) Single slope Metal oxide nanoparticles Increased by 57% No collector
Jaeyun Moon et al. (Moon et al. 2015) Single slope Co3O4 black oxide nanoparticles Increased by 88.2% No collector
Wei Yu et al. (Yu, Xie, and Bao 2010) Single slope graphene oxide nanosheets Higher than metal oxides No collector
SOLAR STILL WITH INTEGRATION OF PCM & NANOPARTICLES
Babapoor et al. (Babapoor and Karimi 2015) Single slope 1.Al2O3 Among 3 nanoparticles, Al2O3 is No collector
2. Fe2O3 the best suited material for
3. SiO2 with Paraffin wax combining with paraffin
S.W. Sharshir et al. (Sharshir et al. 2017) Single slope Flake graphite nanoparticles (FGN) Increases by 73.8% No collector
Ashraf Elfasakhany et al. (Elfasakhany 2016) Single slope Copper paraffin nanocomposite Increases by 125% No collector
(Continued)
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREEN ENERGY 19

Table 3. (Continued).
PRODUCTIVITY RATE WHEN
TYPE OF COMPARED TO ITS OWN TYPE OF
AUTHOR STILL MATERIAL CONVENTIONAL STILL CONCENTRATOR
Dsilva Winfred Rufuss et al. (Dsilva Winfred Rufuss Single slope 1.TiO2 Among 3 different nanoparticles, No collector
et al. 2015) 2. CuO GO with PW gives the very
3.GO with PW higher production rate than
other 2 nanoparticles
P. Manoj Kumar et al. (Manoj Kumar et al. 2021) Single slope SiO2 with paraffin wax Increased by 67.07% No collector
Harikrishnan et al .(Harikrishnan, Magesh, and Single slope Stearic acid and TiO2 Increased by 70.2% No collector
Kalaiselvam 2013)
Motahar et al. (Motahar et al. 2014) Single slope n- octadecane and TiO2 Increased by 73.6% No collector
Sharma et al. (Sharma et al. 2016) Single slope Palmatic acid and TiO2 Increased by 65.6% No collector
A.E. Kabeel et al. (Kabeel et al. 2020) Tubular solar Polyethylene glycol and Graphene Increased by 116.5% No collector
still nanosheet

productivity. These materials give higher productivity at night ● Alternate phase change material must be taken other than
and lower productivity at daytime (Kalita, Dewan, and Borah paraffin wax and its proportions must be varied for higher
2015). storage capacity.

9. FUTURE RESEARCH SCOPE 10. CONCLUSION

This review article shows the recent advancements in solar
The thermal conductivity of PCM can be enhanced when the
stills using collectors, concentrators, reflectors, nanoparticles,
high thermal conductivity of nanoparticles is scattered into it.
and nano-PCM composites. After all the groundwork of the
Magnetic nanomaterials are presenting their great efficient
survey, it was learned that nanocomposites are the materials
nature in removing the pollutant from aqueous medium also
that give more amount of productivity and enhancement in
helps in increasing the properties of PCM. But these magnetic
thermal conductivity compared to other modifications. So,
nanoparticles are having the disadvantage of hazards to the
divergent contributions are carried out using nano and nano­
water. So, there comes the existence of graphene as
composites were reviewed mainly in this review article to show
a nanomaterial with its higher properties over the past few
the advantages of using nanofluids. The following conclusions
years.
have been made from the recent experimentations and sum­
Nanoparticles like MWCNT, Graphene, CuO, TiO2, Al2O3
marized in the below points:
have higher thermal conductivity and are being used in most of
the applications in the field of NPCMs. Thermal conductivity
(1) Thermal properties of base fluids have been increased as
nanoparticles even help in enhancing the other properties of
different nanoparticles were mixed with the base fluid to
PCM such as phase change temperature viscosity and latent
enrich the thermal conductivity and productivity.
heat capacity. Only a few investigations were done in the area
(2) The addition of PCM with nanofluids has major advan­
of graphene based materials. So, if a researcher can further
tages for enhancing thermal conductivity. Increasing
investigate the economic, environmental, and technical chal­
the mass concentration of nanoparticles in PCM has
lenges on materials like graphene, CNT will emerge as
improved thermal conductivity and reduced the super­
a growing star in the field of solar desalination
cooling nature. So it leads to the enhancement of heat
● A Researcher can also test the stabilization of nanoparticles
transfer rate.
(3) Further use of nanocomposites has enhanced the stor­
when it dispersed in the PCM because the stabilization of
ing capacity of the PCM.
nanoparticles plays an important role during the mixing
(4) The only ratio that should be maintained is the nano
process of nanomaterials and PCM. One can make
PCM proportion ratio to observe the proper improve­
research on different nanoparticles using various diameters
ment/enhancement in the thermal properties for long
of particles and their stability during the sonication process
extent use.
to enhance their thermophysical properties.
● Wick material used in the still can be of a higher thickness
to increase the heat storage capacity. Nomenclature
● Double slope solar still integrated with a combination of
high thermal conductivity nanoparticle and PCM as an Al2O3 Aluminum oxide
CuO Copper oxide
internal source and a reflector as external source can be Cu2O Cuprous oxide
used as future work which enhances the performance of C14H30 N-Tetradecane
solar still. C16H32O2 Palmitic acid
● For future work, it is good if one combines NPCM with C18H36 N-Octadecene
different concentration ratios to enhance the thermophy­ C18H34O2Oleic acid
Fe2O3 Iron oxide
sical properties of PCM with external condensers, con­ k Thermal conductivity (W/mk)
centrators to improve the evaporation rate. MgO Magnesium oxide
20 N. V. ET AL.
SiC Silicon carbide
SiO2Silicon dioxide
TiO2 Titanium dioxide
ZnO Zinc oxide
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our sincere thanks to KLEF management for
providing continuous support to access the library and Centre for
Advanced Energy Studies(CAES) facilities during the preparation of this
review article.
ORCID
Nagaraju V http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2849-6047
G. Murali http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1239-2975
Sankeerthana M http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6968-9761
M. Murugan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6671-6867
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