Abstract
Abstract Nanofluids are great heat transfer carriers for collecting thermal energy in solar thermal applications. In the present study, a theoretical study of single‐slope solar still (passive type) has been carried out by incorporating CuO, Al2O3, Ag, Fe2O3, and SiC‐water nanofluids at different volume concentrations (0.02, 0.05, 0.08, 0.12, and 0.2). This analysis has been carried out with an optimum water depth of 0.02m as obtained from the experimental and theoretical studies. In order to validate the model, the experiments were conducted on solar still and then performance of still was compared. The analytical expression of the characteristic equation using Runga‐Kutta ODE, for passive single slope solar still was found to be in good agreement with experiments carried out in Patiala, India. The total deviation for both experimental and theoretical distillate output of a still for a day was found to be 12.24%. Daily production for Al2O3‐water‐based nanofluid was found to be (14.22%) higher than simple solar still without nanofluid, followed by CuO (10.82%), Ag (8.11%), Fe2O3 (7.63%) and SiC (7.61%).