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Solar steam generation: Steam by thermal concentration

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The solar-driven generation of water steam at 100 °C under one sun normally requires the use of optical concentrators to provide the necessary energy flux. Now, thermal concentration is used to raise the vapour temperature to 100 °C without the need for costly optical concentrators.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the structure and operation of an interfacial steam generation system floating at the water–air interface.

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Correspondence to Tao Deng.

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Shang, W., Deng, T. Solar steam generation: Steam by thermal concentration. Nat Energy 1, 16133 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.133

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