A team of researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has developed a new cooling system that doesn’t need electricity.
This innovation could be a game-changer for solar energy, especially in places like Saudi Arabia, where the desert heat can make solar panels overheat.
Solar energy makes up over 80% of Saudi Arabia’s green energy, but the hot environment presents a challenge as it can damage the solar cells, leading to reduced efficiency.
Cooling systems are usually used to prevent this overheating, but they often depend on electricity, which is costly in rural areas with poor infrastructure.
To address this, KAUST Professor Qiaoqiang Gan and his international team have created a device that can cool solar panels and harvest water from the air using only gravity.
This system also uses inexpensive, easily available materials.
The atmosphere holds much more water than all the rivers combined, and technologies like this can collect it for use.
However, in dry regions like Saudi Arabia, many existing water collection systems need electricity to work effectively.
That’s where the new device offers an advantage—it operates without power, making it ideal for remote areas.
One of the challenges with atmospheric water harvesting is that water droplets often stick to the surface of the device, making it harder to collect them. The team, including Professor Dan Daniel and researcher Shakeel Ahmad, solved this problem by adding a special coating made of a polymer and silicon oil.
This coating helps the water slide off easily, allowing the device to collect more water using only gravity.
The device also works to cool solar panels through passive radiative cooling, reflecting heat back to the sky. It has been tested six times over a year and was found to nearly double the amount of water collected compared to other technologies.
Since the system doesn’t rely on electricity or mechanical parts, it reduces energy use and maintenance costs, making it a promising solution for solar energy and water collection in hot, dry regions.
