Influence of solvent in the synthesis of nano-structured ZnO by hydrothermal method and their application in solar-still

This article presents a novel work related to synthesis and utilize ZnO nanoparticles to enhance solar still distillation productivity. The hydrothermal synthesis method based on using different solvents such as methanol and ethylene glycol was used in the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles. The resulting oxide nanomaterials nano-rod (100 nm length, 10-15 nm diameter) and nano-sphere (250 nm diameter) were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The analyses show that the solvent controlled the size and morphology of the produced nano-particles. The synthesized ZnO nonmaterial is used as an important application for solar still. The effect of ZnO nonmaterial shape and its concentration on the performance of the solar still were investigated. The results showed a great effect of the nanomaterials on the performance of the solar still. Results reveal that nano-rod shape achieves range of 30% and 38% of increase in solar still productivity and efficiency respectively compared against the nano-sphere shape. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.