journal article·2022-03Open access

An integrated solar-driven system produces electricity with fresh water and crops in arid regions

Renyuan Li, Mengchun Wu, Sara Aleid, Chenlin Zhang, Wenbin Wang, Peng Wang

Cell Reports Physical Science· Volume 3· Issue 3

Abstract

Stable supplies of water, energy, and food are the most essential factors to universal achievements of the United Nation’s Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This work reports a self-sustained and solar-driven, integrated water-electricity-crop co-production system (WEC2P). The design of WEC2P is based on the atmospheric water adsorption-desorption cycle (1) to generate cooling power for photovoltaic (PV) cells to increase their electricity generation performance or (2) to sustainably produce fresh water from atmospheric water vapor to support crop growth. During the 3-month-long outdoor field test, the WEC2P successfully reduced the temperature of PV panels by up to 17°C and increased their electricity generation by up to 9.9% in the PV cooling mode. Meanwhile, it produced water to irrigate crops (i.e., water spinach) hosted in an integrated plant-growing unit in Saudi Arabia, with a crop surviving rate of 95%. Thereby, WEC2P may represent a meaningful contribution to the global water-energy-food nexus.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods · Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies · Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

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