Nano-Micro Letters
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2024
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-16
·
IF 31.6
Lei Leqi,Meng Shuo,Si Yifan,Shi Shuo,Wu Hanbai,Yang Jieqiong,Hu Jinlian
Engineering MXene into electrospun nanofibers can effectively enhance its thermal emissivity and conductance, and the unidirectional water transport of the wettability-gradient-induced-diode (WGID) membrane displayed diode-like properties with wettability gradient by tailoring the water contact angle of each single layer.
The WGID membrane could achieve a cooling temperature of 1.5 °C in the “dry” state, and 7.1 °C in the “wet” state, with high emissivity of 96.40% in the MIR range, superior thermal conductivity of 0.3349 W m −1 K −1 .
Zero-energy-consumption for personal cooling management via multiple heat dissipation pathways, including thermal radiation, conduction, and evaporation.
研究领域:
材料科学
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热管理工程
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表面科学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
LANGMUIR
·
2025
·
IF 3.9
Jinyue Xiao,Xin Zhang,Zhecun Wang
The Janus membrane demonstrates its advantages in timely drainage and directional water transport properties for efficient fog water collection, which helps alleviate global water shortages. However, the direction-dependent collection and inefficient directional water transport properties limit its widespread application. Herein, a single-layered sandwich-structured copper foam that features a superhydrophilic inner layer and double-deck external hydrophobic layers is prepared by a simple method. This innovative architecture demonstrates direction-independent fog harvesting capabilities through the synergistic integration of symmetric wettability gradients and robust structural integrity. Such sandwiched copper foam shows its superiority in rapid directional water transport and timely drainage properties which can quickly regenerate the fresh outer hydrophobic surface as well as the direction-independent unidirectional water transport properties. The rapid directional water transport property combined with the timely drainage of the sandwiched copper foam benefits the continuous better performance of fog collection compared to that of conventional Janus membranes. Clearly, the development of such sandwiched copper foam with a direction-independent unidirectional water transport property enables the effective and durable collection of fog droplets in environments with dynamically changeable winds. Overall, this work provides a new idea for the fabrication of advanced materials for direction-independent fog collection.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
DESALINATION
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2024
·
IF 8.3
Xushuai Chen,Panpan Zhang,Xi Chen,Chunjia Luo,Min Chao,Luke Yan
Solar interfacial evaporation represents a highly promising approach for generating potable water from seawater utilizing clean, abundant, and sustainable solar energy. MXene-based materials exhibit outstanding photothermal conversion in desalination applications but face challenges in water transport and salt removal. Here, we introduce an effective MXene-charge gradient hydrogel (MCGH) evaporator that leverages the Donnan effect for salt rejection and internal osmotic pressure for water conveyance. The MCGH evaporator achieved 3.1 kg m −2 h −1 evaporation rate in 3.5 wt% NaCl under 1 sun irradiation. It also operates effectively in concentrated brines, reaching a notable 2.1 kg m −2 h −1 evaporation rate in 20 wt% NaCl solutions. This work introduces a new approach for salt-tolerant MXene photothermal evaporators, holding great promise for sustainable solar desalination applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Nano-Micro Letters
·
2024
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-19
·
IF 31.6
Zhao Xiaomeng,Zhang Heng,Chan Kit-Ying,Huang Xinyue,Yang Yunfei,Shen Xi
Inspired by transport system in trees, a two-way water and salt transport mechanism is realized in a structurally graded aerogel, enabling simultaneous fast water uptake and salt rejection.
The horizontally aligned pore channels near the surface achieve excellent heat localization by maximizing solar absorption and minimizing heat loss.
The integrated water, salt, and thermal transports impart an impressive evaporation rate of 1.94 kg m −2 h −1 in a 20 wt% NaCl solution for 8 h without salt accumulation.
研究领域:
材料科学
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能源工程
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仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
·
2020
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IF 7.864
Daliang Xu,Xuewu Zhu,Xinsheng Luo,Yuanqing Guo,Yatao Liu,Liu Yang,Xiaobin Tang,Guibai Li,Heng Liang
The demand for thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes with superior permeance and high rejection is gradually increasing for seawater desalination and brackish water softening. However, improving the membrane permeance remains a great challenge due to the formation of excrescent polyamide in the substrate pores and thick polyamide film. Herein, we fabricated a high-performance TFC nanofiltration membrane via a classical interfacial polymerization reaction on a two-dimensional lamellar layer of transition-metal carbides (MXene). The MXene layer promoted the absorption of the reactive monomer, and higher amine monomer concentration facilitated the self-sealing and self-termination of interfacial polymerization to generate a thinner outer polyamide film from 68 to 20 nm. The almost nonporous lamellar interface inhibited the formation of inner polyamide in the substrate pores. In addition, the MXene lamellar layer could be eliminated by mild oxidation after interfacial polymerization to avoid imparted additional hydraulic resistance. The resulting TFC membrane conferred a high rejection above 96% for Na2SO4 and excellent permeance of 45.7 L·m–2·h–1·bar–1, which was almost 4.5 times higher than that of the control membrane (10.2 L·m–2·h–1·bar–1). This research provides a feasible strategy for fabricating a high-performance nanofiltration membrane using two-dimensional nanosheets as a templated interface.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境工程
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膜技术
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Advanced Science
·
2024
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IF 14.3
Wenyan Yan,Lin Zhou,Zisheng Luo,Shenghua Ding,Dong Li,Xingyu Lin
Photoelectrocatalysis has attracted significant attention for water splitting and contaminant degradation. However, the lifetime of photoelectrocatalysis devices is hampered by the severe instability and photocorrosion of the photo-active nanomaterial on the photoelectrode, which is a key limitation to realizing industrialization. Typically, the conventional protection strategy of photoelectrodes usually suffers from the trade-off between the photoelectrocatalytic activity and stability. Inspired by biological cell membrane with water channels, here a highly permeable and ultrathin silica coating with ultrasmall straight nanochannels is in situ grown that stabilizes the photoelectrode. These ultrasmall channels boost photoelectrocatalysis by accelerating water transport and reducing the reaction energy within the confined nanochannels. Specifically, the ultrathin coating imparts significant mechanical and structural stability to the photo-active nanomaterial, thereby preventing its detachment, dissolution, and crystal damage without compromising performance. As a result, the protected photoelectrode exhibits enhanced water splitting activity and excellent stability over 120 h, whereas the photocurrent of the unprotected photoelectrode degrades rapidly. Meanwhile, the coated photoelectrode also exhibits superior photoelectrocatalytic degradation efficiency (>97%), even after the 10th cycle. This strategy is facile and universal and can be extended to construct other stable and high-performance electrodes for promoting photoelectrocatalysis in practical applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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化学工程
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2024
·
IF 8.3
Guangyi Tian,Changhui Fu,Zhiguang Guo
Water scarcity is a global problem and collecting water from the air is a viable solution to this crisis. Inspired by Namib Desert beetle, leaf venation and spider silk, we designed an integrated biomimetic system with hybrid wettability and wettability gradient. The hybrid hydrophilic–hydrophobic wettability design that bionomics desert beetle’s back can construct a three-dimensional topography with a water layer on the surface, expanding the contact area with the fog flow and thus improving the droplet trapping efficiency. The venation-like structure with wettability gradient not only provides a planned path for water transportation, but also accelerates water removal under the synergistic effect of gravity and wettability driving force, thus further improving the surface regeneration rate. The collector combines droplet capture, coalescence, transportation, separation, and storage capabilities, which provides new ideas for the design of future high-efficiency fog collectors.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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生物学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
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2025
·
IF 2.9
Yang He,Guowei Chen,Yiping Zhao,Li Chen
The hydrophilicity of two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal carbides, carbonitrides, and nitrides (MXene) nanochannels plays a critical role in water transport during filtration, yet its specific effects on MXene membranes remain inadequately understood. Herein, we systematically investigated water transport through Ti3C2TX MXene nanochannels using molecular dynamics simulations coupled with experimental validation, addressing a significant knowledge gap in MXene-based separation membranes. Our simulations demonstrated that strong interactions between water molecules and hydrophilic nanochannel MXene surfaces (Ti3C2(OH)2 MXene or Ti3C2(NH)2 MXene) facilitated the formation of ordered molecular arrangements, substantially improving water permeability. Conversely, hydrophobic nanochannels (Ti3C2O2 MXene or Ti3C2F2 MXene) exhibited disordered water molecule distributions, leading to reduced permeability. Experimental validation corroborated these simulation results, demonstrating a direct correlation between the hydrophilicity of the Ti3C2TX surface and the water flux. The highly hydrophilic Ti3C2(OH)2 MXenes exhibited water flux maximum, whereas the more hydrophobic Ti3C2F2 MXenes had the lowest water flux. By integrating molecular dynamics simulations with experimental analyses, we gained comprehensive insights into the influence of nanochannel hydrophilicity on water transport mechanisms in MXene membranes. These findings provide critical guidelines for designing high-performance MXene-based membranes for advanced water treatment and separation applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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计算化学
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产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2022
·
IF 16.744
Zhe Qiu,Fanjun Yu,Dan Xu,Zengbin Wang,Junya Huang,Shuo Wang,Yanxiao Yang,Yonggui Wang,Jian Li,Zefang Xiao,Yanjun Xie,Kai Zhang
Water-transport based on biomimetic self-propelled directional water transport materials have attracted wide attention but are limited by low transport speed, costly and complicated preparation, and scaling difficulty. By retaining native cellulose microfibril structure within wood cell walls and their controlled shrinkage, we constructed a self-propelling directionally water transporting wood (SDTW) by reshaping the cell wall to generate robust capillary forces due to aligned longitudinal hierarchical wood cell structures. Hierarchical structures containing directional parallel macro- and micro-sized ridge-groove structures and creating nano-voids are fabricated. They are further intactly fixed after reaction with maleic anhydride to improve the dimensional stability and environmental durability without changing the hydrophilicity on surface. Resulting SDTW exhibited an ultrafast water transport speed of 200.4 mm/s (∼260 % of Nepenthes alata showing a fast speed of 78 mm/s as a native structure) and water absorbing rate of 1.15 × 10 5 L/m 2 /h (over 4200-fold higher than that of natural wood). With these ultrafast water transport characters, SDTW was used as water manipulating systems for fast bottom to up transportation of liquid water at a rate of 193.5 mm/s, and as high fog harvesting system with an efficiency of 10.6 g/cm 2 /h. With its facility, durability, scalability, and sustainability, the SDTW demonstrates a new class of sustainable wood-based materials for practical water manipulation applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
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仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2021
·
IF 9.229
Jingxiu Chen,Jianzhang Mai,Chao Wang,Yanyan Lin,Dongyang Miao,Yongqiang Lin,Aijaz Ahmed Babar,Xianfeng Wang,Jianyong Yu,Bin Ding
Humidifying membranes with ultrafast water transport and evaporation play a vital role in indoor humidification that improves personal comfort and industrial productivity in daily life. However, commercial nonwoven (NW) humidifying membranes show mediocre humidification capability owing to limited wicking capacity, low water absorption, and relatively less water evaporation. Herein, we report a biomimetic micro-/nanofibrous composite membrane with a highly aligned fibrous structure using a humidity-induced electrospinning technique for high-efficiency indoor humidification. Surface wettability and roughness are also tailored to achieve a high degree of superhydrophilicity by embedding hydrophilic silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) into the fiber matrix. The synergistic effect of the highly aligned fibrous structure and surface wettability endows composite membranes with ultrafast water transport and evaporation. Strikingly, the composite membrane exhibits an outstanding wicking height of 19.5 cm, a superior water absorption of 497.7%, a fast evaporation rate of 0.34 mL h–1, and a relatively low air pressure drop of 14.4 Pa, thereby achieving a remarkable humidification capacity of 514 mL h–1 (57% higher than the commercial NW humidifying membrane). The successful synthesis of this biomimetic micro-/nanofibrous composite membrane provides new insights into the development of micro-/nanofibrous humidifying membranes for personal health and comfort as well as industrial production.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
LANGMUIR
·
2022
·
IF 4.331
Zhecun Wang,Hanzhen Li,Xin Yang,Min Guan,Laigui Wang
A conceptually novel multi-bioinspired strategy based on structures and functions derived from the Namib desert beetle and lotus leaf is proposed in this paper. The proposed scheme synergistically combines the features of alternating wettability patterns and asymmetric wettability for improved directional water transport. Consequently, a Janus copper mesh, which substantially outperforms other single-bioinspired synthetic materials, is produced. The Janus copper mesh achieves directional self-transportation of tiny water droplets and continuous water flow in a gravity-irrelevant or an anti-gravity manner without energy consumption. This depends on the asymmetric wettability and alternating hydrophobic-hydrophilic wettability patterns on the hydrophobic surface of the mesh. In particular, Janus copper shows remarkable selective directional water transport in a water–oil system, rendering it a promising candidate for practical applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2022
·Vol. 33
·期 5
·2210730
·
IF 19.924
Zhihua Yu,Jichao Zhang,Shuhui Li,Zhijuan Zhou,Ziqi Qin,Hui Liu,Yuekun Lai,Shaohai Fu
Bio-inspired fog harvesting devices (FHDs) have been exploited to address water shortages. Despite the advances achieved, efficient and continuous fog harvesting is still hindered by some challenges: 1) a single mechanism appears to be insufficient to achieve optimal water collection efficiency; 2) the re-evaporation of the harvested water results in decreased water collection. In this study, inspired by the unique feature of cacti, Nepenthes alata , lotus leaves, and pinecones, a 2D–3D switchable copper sheet (SLP-SHL@SP-Cu) is reported, which results in excellent fog capture and water transport rates. During the fog harvesting process, the captured droplets transport from the tip of the top surface to the bottom under the Laplace forces (cacti spine), capillary forces (lotus leaves), and low surface energy ( Nepenthes alata ). Notably, the novel FHD responds in a preprogrammed manner to changes in humidity and performs a dynamic transformation from a 2D planar structure to a 3D helical structure (and in reverse), enabling efficient fog harvesting (in the 3D geometry) and water storage (in its 2D form). Thus, this study opens a new avenue for the practical applications of highly effective FHDs with increased water retention abilities.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）