# Fileset

[[Vol. 27]A Nanoparticle Boost for Solar-powered Water Heating _ WPI-MANA.pdf](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/c991cc6e-42d2-4a0d-99a2-8d9427685a93/download)

## Creator

International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA)

## Rights

In Copyright[In Copyright](http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/)

## Other metadata

[[Research Highlights Vol.27] A Nanoparticle Boost for Solar-powered Water Heating](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/datasets/35f64ca7-0ead-4ee1-b587-05f72fe5e890)

## Fulltext

2022/04/04 10:12 A Nanoparticle Boost for Solar-powered Water Heating | MANAhttps://www.nims.go.jp/mana/research/highlights/vol27.html 1/2Previous  Index  NextResearch Highlights[Vol. 27]A Nanoparticle Boost for Solar-powered Water Heating29 Nov, 2016A highly-efficient, nanoparticle-based method for heating water and generating watervapor from sunlight is demonstrated by WPI-MANA scientists.Figure 1.(a) Absorption efficiencies of single nanoparticles (left axis) made of TiN, gold (Au) and carbon (C). The right axisshows normalized solar irradiance.(b) Photograph showing vapor generating from water containing TiN nanoparticles (TiN NPs) in room temperatureunder the illumination of focused sunlight. The inset figure illustrates the photograph.(c) Schematic of a solar heater using TiN NP dispersed water.Solar energy could provide a renewable, sustainable source of power for our daily needs. However,even the most state-of-the-art solar cells struggle to achieve energy conversion efficiency of higherthan 30%. While current solar-powered water heaters fare better in terms of energy efficiency,there are still improvements to be made if the systems are to be used more widely.One potential candidate for inclusion in solar water heaters is “nanofluid,” that is, a liquidcontaining specially-designed nanoparticles that are capable of absorbing sunlight andtransforming it into thermal energy in order to heat water directly. Now, Satoshi Ishii and his co-workers at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA) and the JapanScience and Technology Agency have developed a new nanofluid containing titanium nitride (TiN)nanoparticles, which demonstrates high efficiency in heating water and generating water vapor.The team analytically studied the optical absorption efficiency of a TiN nanoparticle and found thatit has a broad and strong absorption peak thanks to lossy plasmonic resonances. Surprisingly, thesunlight absorption efficiency of a TiN nanoparticle outperforms that of a carbon nanoparticle and agold nanoparticle (see Figure 1(a)).They then exposed each nanofluid to sunlight and measured its ability to heat pure water. The TiNnanofluid had the highest water heating properties, stemming from the resonant sunlightabsorption as shown in Figure 1(b). It also generated more vapor than its carbon-basedhttps://www.nims.go.jp/mana/research/highlights/vol26.htmlhttps://www.nims.go.jp/mana/research/highlights/index.htmlhttps://www.nims.go.jp/mana/research/highlights/vol28.html2022/04/04 10:12 A Nanoparticle Boost for Solar-powered Water Heating | MANAhttps://www.nims.go.jp/mana/research/highlights/vol27.html 2/2counterpart. The efficiency of the TiN nanofluid reached nearly 90%. Crucially, the TiN particleswere not consumed during the process, meaning a TiN-based heating system could essentially beself-sustaining over time.TiN nanofluids show great promise in solar heat applications, with high potential for use ineveryday appliances such as showers and heaters (see Figure 1(c)). The new design could evencontribute to methods for decontaminating water through vaporization.Reference"Titanium nitride nanoparticles as plasmonic solar heat transducers"Satoshi Ishii, Ramu Pasupathi Sugavaneshwar and Tadaaki NagaoJournal : The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 120 (2016).DOI : 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b09604AffiliationsInternational Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for MaterialsScience (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, JapanContact informationInternational Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics(WPI-MANA)National Institute for Materials Science1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 JapanPhone: +81-29-860-4710E-mail: mana-pr[AT]ml.nims.go.jphttps://samurai.nims.go.jp/profiles/sishii?locale=enhttps://samurai.nims.go.jp/profiles/nagao_tadaaki?locale=enhttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b09604