PFI-TT: Light Driven Evaporation System for Desalination

这个创新伙伴关系-技术转化（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将部署一种基于纳米技术的设备来输送淡水，采用可再生能源，并直接应用于个人使用、小规模家庭、市政或工业使用等部门。最初的应用程序将适用于矿物含量高的含水层供应地区的小城市和个人，随后将包括海水淡化厂的盐水管理和咸水处理公司的淡水回收。我们的社区将包括来自高度多样化和大多数弱势群体的休斯顿独立学区（86%的少数族裔入学）教师研究经验（RET）项目的教师和来自休斯顿社区学院的本科生，这是一所以西班牙裔和非裔学生为主的学校。拟议的项目解决了对紧凑型创新技术的迫切需求，这些技术可以从各种盐度的水中产生安全的饮用水，不需要大规模的基础设施，但即使在偏远、贫困地区也可以部署。我们的目标是设计和建造一个紧凑的原型系统，以实现1加仑/分钟清洁水生产的基准目标。核心技术结合了小型光学元件、优化的热振荡器驱动的能量回收，以及高效吸光纳米颗粒的使用，这些纳米颗粒可以产生热量并局部汽化水。该项目将结合先进的理论模型和数值多物理场技术，这些技术已经在实验试点研究中进行了定量测试，以指导优化海水淡化装置的制造。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will deploy a nanotechnology-based device to deliver fresh water, employing renewable energy and directed toward applications in sectors such as individual use, small-scale household, municipality, or industrial use. The initial application will be developed for small municipalities and individuals in high-mineral-content aquifer-supplied regions, with subsequent translation to include brine management for desalination plants and fresh water recovery for saltwater disposal companies. Our community will include teachers from the highly diverse and majority disadvantaged Houston Independent School District (86% minority enrollment) in a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program and an undergraduate student from Houston Community College, a school with a majority Hispanic and African-American student body. The proposed project addresses the critical need for compact, innovative technologies that create safe drinking water from water over a range of salinities, which do not require large-scale infrastructure, but can be deployed even in remote, needy areas. Our objective is to design and build a compact prototype system to achieve the benchmark goal of 1 gal/min clean water production. The core technology combines small-scale optical elements, an optimized thermal oscillator-driven energy recovery, and the use of efficient light-absorbing nanoparticles that generate heat and locally vaporize water. This project will combine advanced theoretical models and numerical multiphysics techniques, already tested quantitatively against experimental pilot studies, to guide the fabrication of optimized desalination units.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.