Performance Enhancement of Solar Stills Using Wire‐Mesh Materials: A Systematic Review of Passive, Hybrid, and Active Approaches

Abstract

ABSTRACT Solar still (SS) desalination is a solar‐based desalination technology that is environmentally friendly and has the potential to provide an abundant supply of saline water, but has been limited in practice due to low productivity and thermal efficiency. This systematic review is conducted on experimental and numerical studies and published papers between 2015 and 2026 with a special emphasis on the fast‐growing period 2019–2026, for the critical review of the role of wire‐mesh materials in improving the performance of SSs. There are three modes of enhancement: passive (surface area expansion and capillary action), hybrid (mechanical vibrations), and active (heat‐storage and advanced materials); the literature review was performed based on different geometries of the stills, including thermodynamic, economic and environmental (4E/6E), 4E analysis comprises Energy, Exergy, Economic, and Environmental assessments; and 6E extends these to Exergoeconomic and Exergoenvironmental evaluations. The synthesis shows that the productivity of the integral method of wire mesh is always improved, the best results show productivity increase of 40%–82.02%, production cost reduction down to 0.042–0.043 $/L, CO 2 mitigation up to 3.13 tons during 10 years and exergy efficiency improvement is up to 171.4%. Critical issues such as scaling, corrosion, mesh geometry optimization, system complexity, and energy consumption in the external environment are systemically identified. Future research directions include corrosion‐resistant materials, computational parametric optimization, enhancements using nanofluids and magnets, and scalable manufacturing processes. It is established in this review that wire‐mesh‐enhanced SSs are a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly pathway for decentralized water production, with hybrid and active SSs exhibiting better performance despite added complexity. Ultimately, this work provides a roadmap for the commercialization of next‐generation solar desalination technologies.