Experimental investigation on Peltier based hybrid PV/T active solar still for enhancing the overall performance

•Peltier module powered by solar PV is used for increasing the freshwater yield.•Peltier is used for heating the basin water and cooling the still’s glass cover.•The freshwater productivity is increased about 3 times the passive still.•The efficiency of PV system is increased upto 38% than the actual PV system. The demand for water and electricity is gradually increasing throughout the years due to the modern lifestyle of humans to complete their daily activities. To make sustainable water and to produce electricity, the proposed experiment was done. In this, hybrid PV/T active solar still was designed and fabricated in which a solar PV powered Peltier system was incorporated. The Peltier used in this still helps in the enhancement of the distilled water production during both evaporation and condensation processes. Various investigations were made on the proposed active hybrid PV/T system to claim this as the best and it was succeeded. Finally, the proposed active hybrid solar PV/T still produces about 30% higher efficiency than the conventional passive still and also resulted in 38% improved efficiency than the actual solar PV system.