{"id":704732,"date":"2026-05-27T06:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=704732"},"modified":"2026-09-15T11:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:01:03","slug":"what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\/","title":{"rendered":"New method turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-embed-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sustainably Creating Fresh Water from the Ocean\" width=\"1062\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RBo8dHwS1xM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The energy-efficient desalination system produces fresh water without chemical additives and transforms leftover salts into useful materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1242,"featured_media":706162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[42092,18632,18652,5296,18572,43082,93,41012],"class_list":["post-704732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-chunlei-guo","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-institute-of-optics","tag-laboratory-for-laser-energetics","tag-research-finding","tag-research-impact-sustains","tag-sustainability","tag-videos"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":true,"related":"show_related","style":[691642,662592,550212],"content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-0","title":"<h2>The energy-efficient desalination system produces fresh water without chemical additives and transforms leftover salts into useful materials.<\/h2>","content":"","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"<h3>Big takeaways<\/h3>","content":"<ul class=\"ul1\">\r\n \t<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">A new desalination method <strong>produces drinking water from seawater<\/strong> without chemical additives.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">The solar-powered system <strong>uses specially engineered black metal<\/strong> to absorb sunlight. <\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Its <strong>self-cleaning surface separates and collects salts<\/strong>, instead of dumping them as harmful brine waste.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">From the salts, <strong>the system can extract lithium<\/strong>, a key material for rechargeable batteries. <\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">The approach <strong>could help address global water shortages<\/strong> and growing mineral demand.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-15","title":"","content":"The United Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/water-and-sanitation\/\">estimates<\/a> that 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water, and communities from California to the Middle East rely on desalination plants to convert ocean water to fresh water. Common desalination techniques, such as reverse osmosis and thermal distillation, are energy-intensive, require pre- and post-water treatment, and leave behind a concentrated saltwater byproduct called brine. The brine byproduct wreaks havoc on sea life when it\u2019s deposited back into the ocean by raising the salt level and lowering oxygen in the water.\r\n\r\nBut a novel approach developed at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\">糖心传媒<\/a> offers a way to overcome these drawbacks. Researchers at URochester\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/optics\/index.html\">Institute of Optics<\/a> developed a new solar-thermal desalination process to produce fresh water in an energy-efficient way that does not leave behind brine and requires no chemical additives to pre-treat the water. A team led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/optics\/people\/faculty\/guo_chunlei\/\">Chunlei Guo<\/a>, a professor of optics and of physics and a senior scientist at URochester\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lle.rochester.edu\/\">Laboratory for Laser Energetics<\/a>, describes their method in a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41377-026-02315-4\">paper<\/a> published in <em>Light: Science &amp; Applications<\/em>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_706172\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]<img class=\"wp-image-706172 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/inline-what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-2026-04-08_Guo_desalination_0129.jpg\" alt=\"A blue gloved hand holding two pieces of laser-etched superwicking black metal.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1200\" \/> <strong>SUN-POWERED SOLUTION:<\/strong> Researchers developed a solar-powered desalination device featuring laser-etched superwicking black metal (right). Unlike existing solar desalination systems (left), Professor Chunlei Guo\u2019s design prevents salt and mineral buildup from clogging the surface. (糖心传媒 photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe technology uses solar panels made of black metal etched with femtosecond lasers to make the surface super light-absorbing and superwicking\u2014or extremely attractive to water. The panels have a laser-treated active region that pulls a thin layer of water across the surface, absorbs nearly all solar radiation, distills the water, and deposits the leftover salts and minerals into the panel\u2019s untreated sides or \u201cpassive\u201d region so that the salt does not clog the active region and disrupt continuous desalination.\r\n<h3>Leveraging the \u2018coffee ring\u2019 effect<\/h3>\r\nGuo says other researchers have developed solar-thermal desalination techniques that work well in lab experiments using simulated seawater made of only water and sodium chloride. As the water evaporates, the sodium chloride crystallizes in a grainy and porous fashion allowing water to pass through to dissolve the salt. The solar panels, meanwhile, can be easily cleaned.\r\n\r\nBut real ocean has a much more complex composition, and these systems tend to encounter issues when tested in the field. Unlike sodium chloride, many other components in seawater, such as magnesium- and calcium-based materials, crystallize in a crusty and non-porous fashion on the solar panel\u2019s surface, clogging it. Eventually, water can no longer seep through. This is the same phenomenon as your shower head clogging over time or your teapot lined with scales, except that seawater contains hundreds of times more salts than your tap water.\r\n<blockquote>\u201cMining lithium from the earth has proven to be very taxing from an energy and environmental standpoint, so pulling lithium directly from saltwater could be a very important future route.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nTo keep their solar panel surface from gumming up similarly, Guo\u2019s team precisely etched the black metal\u2019s grooves so the various salts and minerals in ocean water would simply slough off. They also leveraged a physical phenomenon that has plagued clumsy javaphiles for centuries: the coffee ring effect.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf you drop coffee on a surface, eventually the water evaporates, and there\u2019s a ring left at the outer edge that is the concentrated coffee particles,\u201d says Guo. \u201cWe use that same principle to advance the salts to the passive region.\u201d\r\n\r\nTesting their solar-thermal desalination technique using samples of water from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, Guo and his team were able to make the surface self-cleaning. In other words, it extracted freshwater and directed the remaining salts to the passive region where they could be later collected without reducing the panel\u2019s efficiency.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_706162\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]<img class=\"wp-image-706162 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fea-what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-2026-04-08_Guo_desalination_0064.jpg\" alt=\"Five different colored vials holding seawater, Great Salt Lake water, nickel sulfate, copper chloride wastewater, and desalinated water standing next to a pile of salt.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1200\" \/> <strong>WATER, TRANSFORMED:<\/strong> Vials of seawater, Great Salt Lake water, nickel sulfate, copper chloride wastewater, and desalinated water, along with recovered salts show how a new approach developed by URochester researchers turns natural and industrial waters into fresh water and reusable minerals. (糖心传媒 photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)[\/caption]\r\n<h3>Turning waste into resources<\/h3>\r\nOne of the new desalination method\u2019s distinct advantages is that instead of leaving behind brine that must be disposed of or processed, it extracts nearly 100 percent of the salts in solid form. This could not only produce an abundant supply of table salt, but it could also be used to extract more precious minerals, including lithium, which is used in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other electronics.\r\n\r\nIn a <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2026\/ta\/d5ta08968a\">related paper<\/a> in the <em>Journal of Materials Chemistry A<\/em>, Guo and his colleagues show how they can use the same superwicking solar panels to separate lithium from the rest of other salts in desalination. Embedding nanoparticles made of hydrogen titanate in the tiny grooves of the black metal surface isolates the lithium from other salts and minerals.\r\n\r\n\u201cMining lithium from the earth has proven to be very taxing from an energy and environmental standpoint, so pulling lithium directly from saltwater could be a very important future route,\u201d says Guo.\r\n\r\nUsing water samples from Great Salt Lake, the researchers extracted about 50 percent of the lithium from the salts left behind by the desalination process.\r\n\r\nGuo says now that the superwicking desalination technology has been demonstrated in proofs of concept on small-scale devices, he sees the technology inherently scalable, capable of improving global access to drinking water and building more sustainable supply chains for precious minerals.\r\n\r\nThe National Science Foundation, the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, and Worldwide Universities Network supported this research. Guo\u2019s colleagues from the Institute of Optics who contributed to the research include Senior Scientist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/optics\/people\/senior_scientists\/singh-subhash\/index.html\">Subash Singh<\/a>, alumnus Ran Wei \u201924 (PhD), PhD students Luheng Tang and Tainshu Xu, and Mingjiang Ma.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-15","title":"","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-medium","columns":"1","cards":[{"card_title":"<p class=\"u-card-title\">First in the nation in optics<\/p>","card_text":"With nearly a century of leading innovations, our Institute of Optics has awarded more than half of all optics degrees in the US. The 糖心传媒 is the premier place to study, work, and, ultimately, transform our world.\r\n<p class=\"card_cta\">What we're up to<\/p>","card_background_color":"#ffc70a","card_hover_color":"#283faf","card_link":{"title":"","url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/optics\/","target":""},"card_hover_arrow":"","card_image":658582,"card_image_size":"image_thumbnail","card_image_placement":"image_left","card_image_hover_state":"hover_fade","card_image_link":""}]}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New method turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The energy-efficient desalination system produces fresh water without chemical additives and transforms leftover salts into useful materials.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New method turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The energy-efficient desalination system produces fresh water without chemical additives and transforms leftover salts into useful materials.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T10:05:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-15T15:01:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fea-what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-2026-04-08_Guo_desalination_0064-1200x630.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Auburn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Auburn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e928dc2863b53a89ece6d40c7992a4e1\"},\"headline\":\"New method turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T10:05:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-15T15:01:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":18,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-704732\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fea-what-is-desalination-definition-ocean-water-2026-04-08_Guo_desalination_0064.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chunlei Guo\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\",\"Institute of Optics\",\"Laboratory for Laser Energetics\",\"research finding\",\"Research Impact Sustains\",\"sustainability\",\"videos\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; 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