New solar desalination device improves efficiency by suppressing heat loss

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers at Nanjing University in China has developed a new kind of solar desalinating device that does not require a traditional solar concentrator or thermal insulation. Instead, as the group explains in their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they introduce a 2-D channel for water circulation that works through capillary action, thereby greatly reducing heat dissipation.