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Water scarcity is a global challenge, underscoring the importance of efficient water resource management. Solar stills offer a cost-effective method to convert brackish water into potable water but face productivity limitations. This study aims to enhance solar still productivity through modifications using different fin materials and water depth. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were employed to evaluate thermal performance across four scenarios: copper and aluminum fins at water depths of 20 mm and 40 mm. Key parameters including temperature distributions, friction volume, and fluid velocity were analyzed for each configuration (MSS-I to MSS-IV). Energy and exergy efficiencies were also assessed. MSS-III, utilizing copper fins at a 20 mm depth, demonstrated the highest daily productivity (8.33 liters) compared to MSS-IV (8.02 liters), MSS-I (7.81 liters), and MSS-II (6.71 liters). Energy efficiencies were highest for MSS-III (60.10%), followed by MSS-IV (57.41%), MSS-I (55.22%), and MSS-II (52.18%). MSS-III also exhibited the highest exergy efficiency (21.50%), with MSS-I (17.15%), MSS-IV (16.43%), and MSS-II (14.12%) following. The study underscores significant improvements in thermal and energy efficiency achieved through specific design modifications of solar stills. MSS-III's higher performance, attributed to the use of copper fins and optimized depth, highlights the critical role of material selection and structural design in enhancing solar still productivity. These findings have important implications for sustainable water resource management, emphasizing the potential of optimized solar still designs to address water scarcity challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar PV has a disadvantage over its many advantages that its electrical efficiency falls due to rise in surface/operating temperature of solar PV cells. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to mitigate the efficiency loss due to rise in temperature as well as to increase life span of solar photovoltaics by lowering its cell temperature. In this research, the impact of mist cooling on output of PV panel is observed through experimental setup installed at rooftop of Postgraduate Department, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan. The rear surface of PV module is cooled with designed mist nozzle assembly. The performance of modified mist cooled PV module is than compared with reference PV module. Experimental investigation is performed several days in different weather conditions with natural circulation and with forced circulations by using submerged pump. The maximum efficiency gains of 7% and average gain of 3.72% is observed with natural circulation, and maximum gain of 9.2% and average gain 1.72% are observed with forced circulated mist. The overall impact of proposed mist cooled system is positive on performance of PV panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]