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Grant support

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Comunidad de Madrid and European Structural Funds [FOTOCAOS project, Y2018/EMT-5062] and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme in the frame of the PANIWATER project (GA 820718), funded under the Indo-EU International Water cooperation sponsored jointly by European Commission and Department of Science and Technology, India.

Analysis of institutional authors

Martin-Somer, MAuthorMoreno-Sansegundo, JAuthorAlvarez-Fernandez, CAuthorVan Grieken, RAuthorMarugan, JCorresponding Author

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Article

High-performance low-cost solar collectors for water treatment fabricated with recycled materials, open-source hardware and 3d-printing technologies

Publicated to:Science Of The Total Environment. 784 (147119): 147119- - 2021-08-25 784(147119), DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147119

Authors: Martin-Somer, Miguel; Moreno-SanSegundo, Jose; Alvarez-Fernandez, Carmen; van Grieken, Rafael; Marugan, Javier

Affiliations

Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Dept Chem & Environm Technol, ESCET, C Tulipan S-N, Madrid 28933, Spain - Author

Abstract

Solar technologies constitute an excellent alternative for water treatment in low-income countries where the poverty of a large part of the population hinders their access to safe water. From a technical point of view, the use of compound parabolic collectors (CPC) has been consolidated in the last decades. However, the relatively high cost of tooling conventional manufacturing processes for these collectors makes them difficult to afford in the most impoverished regions. This work presents the development of low-cost CPC and parabolic through solar collectors (PTC) by 3D printing of the structure and the use of recycled reflective materials. Besides, open-source hardware has been used to control system operation, including a supplementary UV LED system to compensate for the operation under low solar irradiance. Regarding the tested reflective materials, an optimum is obtained using an aluminium adhesive sheet that leads to an efficiency of 80% compared to a commercial CPC made of high-quality anodised aluminium, being the cost 20 times lower. On the other hand, incorporating a low-cost solar tracking system in a printed PTC reactor could lead to efficiencies up to 300% compared to the commercial CPC, while the cost was 4.5 times lower. Finally, the LED compensation system was successfully validated, allowing the operation with a constant treatment capacity during operation in cloudy conditions. In conclusion, the developed collectors are high-performance solar water treatment systems with a significantly lower investment cost, making them affordable worldwide. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

3d printers3d-printingAdhesivesAluminumArduinoArticleCollector efficiencyCompound parabolic collectorCompound parabolic collector reactorControl systemCostCost analysisCostsCpc reactorDisinfectionEfficiencyEfficiency measurementFerrioxalateLight emitting diodesLow income populationLow-costsMicrotechnologyOpen systemsOpen-source hardwaresParabolic collectorParabolic through solar collectorParabolic through solar collector reactorPerformancePerformance assessmentPhoto reactorPollutant removalPtc reactorReaction kineticsRecyclingRemovalSolar radiationSolar reactorSolar reactorsThree dimensional printingUltraviolet radiationWater treatment

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Science Of The Total Environment due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 26/279, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Environmental Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 5.45, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-29, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 18
  • Scopus: 21
  • Europe PMC: 3

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-29:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 54.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 54 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 5.9.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 9 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Martín Sómer, Miguel) and Last Author (Marugán Aguado, Ángel Javier).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Marugán Aguado, Ángel Javier.