Slowburn
The problem with heating water with a light source is getting the energy to stop in the water. I suggested something similar when I noticed that a glass of cola warms up faster than a glass lemon-lime soda when on a picnic.
If getting the radiant heat (as apposed to conducting heat) to stop in the water more efficiently makes the water heat faster adding some soot to the water in a conventional boiler might make it slightly more efficient.
ivan4
This was done in Victorian times and demonstrated at the great exhibition if my reading of the description is correct. OK, that one didn't use nano tech so that is the new thing.
There have also been several solar powered AC units built over the years.
abe
Desalianation? Wouldn't the salt particles bind to the nano particles and make them less efficient.
I imagine that the water used needs to be pretty clean (filtered...), unless the steam boiled other water, in that case you no longer have 90% efficiency.
Reason
abe, the way I see it desalination and especially human waste treatment would involve a closed loop using pure water - steam - water and a heat exchanger to treat/desalinate.
Scion
What about just solar hot water system that actually works well? Heat the water and pass it to a holding tank. You could use a much smaller collector.
ikarus342000
Great new idea. Desalniation by evaporation is not new, but would be now more efficient. By the way, tell me where I can buy solar panels with an efficiency of 15 % ? You can be happy if the reach 9 %. So this makes this invention even more important.
usugo
The technology seems interesting and cool. However, good commercial photovoltaics have an efficiency of about 20%, not 15%. And I remember a solar concentrator using a stirling engine that had an efficiency of 25-30%. So, either the technology is much cheaper or it will end up like the aforementioned concentrator .... nowhere
Stephen N Russell
Mass produce & use for Temp emergencies or for LT power IE EU, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, Alaska alone can use & Yukon Terr Canada.
Sergey Jivetin
80% efficiency! Amazing!
Fretting Freddy the Ferret pressing the Fret
"At this stage, they quickly dissipate heat through their very small surface area..."
It should read as a very high surface area. We're talking about nano-particles, they have a high surface to volume ratio, meaning the particles have more surface access area to quickly dissipate heat to the medium than if the particles were bigger.