Domestic researchers have developed a highly-efficient meta film that absorbs sunlight and generates heat by boiling water.
 
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said on Wednesday that a research team led by Professor Kim Kyung-sik at Yonsei University developed “plasmonic black gold meta film” that efficiently absorbs visible light.
 
The team said that the film, using nano materials of gold and aluminum oxide, increases the efficiency of light absorption up to 91 percent and steam generation to 57 percent.
 
The team said that the material can be mass produced as it does not require high production costs or a complicated system.
 
The researchers said that the film can be applied to solar steam generation, steam sterilization and seawater desalination.
 
The findings were published in the December 14 edition of Nature Communications.