Science China-Materials
·
2023
·Vol. 66
·期 8
·3292-3299
·
IF 8.1
Zhang Tian,Yan Wen,Wang Yan,Wang Jie,Liu Congyan,Ye Fei,Liu Bo
Currently, freshwater scarcity is a global challenge, and developing low-cost methods for purifying, desalinating, and distilling seawater is crucial. Natural wood, owing to its advantages of high hydrophilicity, low density, microporous channels, and low thermal conductivity, is widely considered a vehicle for solar evaporation. However, the majority of the reported wood-based solar evaporation generators have been economically inefficient, with limited evaporation rates under low-power solar irradiation. Herein, we developed an ecofriendly and efficient wood-based solar evaporation generator comprising a material with excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, polyoxovanadate, loaded on the wood surface with a natural channel structure. The solar evaporation generator exhibited high light absorption capacity (∼98%) in the wide wavelength range of 200–1200 nm, rapid water transport through the wood channels, minimal heat dissipation due to the adiabaticity of the wood, and reduced evaporation enthalpy. Therefore, the overall evaporation efficiency was increased, and a high evaporation rate of 2.23 kg m −2 h −1 and solar-vapor efficiency of 90% under 1 Sun was observed. This environment-friendly, low-cost, and high-efficiency evaporation generator has enormous potential for practical applications in solar desalination and water purification.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Environmental Processes-An International Journal
·
2024
·Vol. 11
·期 2
·1-23
·
IF 3.7
Abdel-Ghafar Hamdy Maamoun,Hamouda Hamed I.
Passive freshwater generation via photothermal membranes represents a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for the water crisis. Herein, we describe a unique method for producing organic fouling-resistant Ag-CNTs/PVDF photothermal membranes using CNTs (multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes) decorated with silver (Ag) nanoparticles deposited on the hydrophilic polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) substrate via vacuum filtration. CNTs were decorated with different loads of silver nanoparticles via a wet-impregnation technique. The prepared Ag-CNTs nanocomposites were fully characterized, and the fabricated anti-fouling Ag-CNTs/PVDF photothermal membranes with different loadings of Ag-CNTs nanocomposite were investigated for their surface morphology, roughness, light absorption, surface temperature, contact angle measurement, water evaporation, and antifouling performances. The optimized Ag-CNTs/PVDF photothermal membrane achieved 95% solar light absorption at a surface temperature of 82 ℃ ± 0.5 with significant hydrophobic behavior due to the plasmonic impact of silver nanoparticles. The evaporation rate reached 1.2 kg.m − 2 .h − 1 using 3.5% NaCl solution (simulated to seawater) with a solar thermal conversion efficiency of 75.6% ± 2.0. The optimized Ag-CNTs/PVDF photothermal membrane showed relative stability in the evaporation rate compared to other membranes using 100 mg.L − 1 humic acid solution for 600 min after one week under natural evaporation with the same solution. The developed membrane showed an effective water evaporation rate with organic matter resistance that makes it highly recommended for application to any water source with the capability of resisting harsh conditions of the environment and with continuous freshwater generation.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
材料科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY
·
2024
·
IF 8.1
Ying Wang,Qiao Zhang,Zhiting Liu,Guangxing Yang,Feng Peng
Photothermal evaporation is an efficient way to utilize solar energy to desalinate seawater for freshwater resources, which can effectively alleviate the press on accessing to freshwater in water-scarce countries and regions. Here, a highly efficient ternary composite consisting of Bi 2 WO 6 , copper and carbon is developed as a photothermal conversion material for solar-driven water evaporation (SDWE) systems. This composite is coated on the top of a base consisting of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam and hydrophilic fiber paper to construct an interface evaporator, enabling sustainable solar-driven freshwater production. Due to its wide light absorbing range, localized photothermal conversion and low evaporation enthalpy, the solar steam generation (SSG) through Cu@Bi 2 WO 6 -based evaporator could be accelerated, thus a high evaporation rate of 2.07 kg m −2 h −1 and an evaporation efficiency of 97 % are obtained under one sun, outperforming the-state-of-art evaporators. This work proposes a feasible way to deal with freshwater shortage.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
DESALINATION
·
2022
·
IF 11.211
Shaoan Cheng,Yihang Li,Beichen Jin,Zhen Yu,Ruonan Gu
Solar-driven passive multistage distillation (MSD) device provides a new approach for environmentally friendly freshwater production. However, the MSD device easily forms salt crystals on the evaporation surface when treating brine, resulting in performance degradation . Here, we design an MSD device with an effective salt-resistant structure to enable rapid and automatic removal of high-concentration brine by a gravity drive. The structure was optimized by laboratory experiments and simulation. As a result, the stable freshwater production rate of the 4-stage device can reach 1.98 kg m −2 h −1 under a 1 kW m −2 light intensity . In particular, the MSD device can work stably at a high light intensity of 4 kW m −2 with an evaporation rate of 8.26 kg m −2 h −1 , making its freshwater yield more than 1.7 times higher than that of a device without a salt-blocking structure. In summary, we explored a new method for salt removal in MSD devices, which is a meaningful method for long-term seawater desalination .
研究领域:
环境科学
·
材料科学
·
能源工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
·
2022
·Vol. 10
·期 45
·24373-24380
·
IF 14.511
Zhi Yang,Lei Chen,Kaijie Yang,Cheng Chen,Yuyao Zhang,Shan Li,Chiheng Chu,Xiaoying Zhu,Baoliang Chen
Solar desalination is regarded as a promising technology for addressing severe freshwater scarcity, yet its long-term performance is challenged by salt fouling. Here, we develop an integrated solar evaporator with a hierarchy composed of a porous melamine foam core (MF) as a framework, black graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets as the solar absorption layer, and a positively charged poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) shell as the salt rejecting layer. The solar evaporator equipped with a macro-, micro-, and nanoscale structure triggers multifunctional properties boosting efficiency and stability in desalinating multiple salinities. The solar evaporator achieves high energy efficiency in pure water and exhibits rather high efficiency under hypersaline conditions (82.8–93.4% in 0–25 wt% brine) compared with the state-of-the-art evaporators. The integral functions of the multiscale hierarchy bring about an optimized solar absorption rate (97.6%), improved photothermal conversion ability (25.0 °C), ultrahigh wettability (0.252 s), and excellent thermal insulation properties (0.0505 W m−1 K−1). The multilayer properties were achieved with a neutral core, negatively charged GO interlayer, and positively charged PEI outlayer benefiting salt rejection by the electrostatic repulsion forces. The multiscale structure improves the solar evaporation efficiency by regulating the states of water molecules. This integrated solar evaporator paves a new route for freshwater production from water sources of various salinities.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Environmental Science-Nano
·
2022
·Vol. 9
·期 5
·1685-1698
·
IF 9.473
Muhammad Sultan Irshad,Xianbao Wang,Naila Arshad,M. Qasim Javed,Tariq Shamim,Zhenzhen Guo,Hong Rong Li,Jianying Wang,Tao Mei
The inadequate supply of water and energy in remote areas poses a risk to human life, which can be overcome via the use of portable solar-driven evaporation setups. However, they involve energy-intensive techniques and salt-accumulation is still a significant barrier for large-scale solar steam generation applications. Herein, we report the preparation of bifunctional in situ-polymerized MnO2@PPy nanocomposites (NCs) for nano-enabled solar evaporation followed by chemical convection and enhanced generation of photo-thermoelectricity. The novel evaporation structure design is composed of super hydrophilic MnO2@PPy NC/two-phase crafted polyurethane wicks for the convective transport of water and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam for excellent thermal management. This work presents, for the first time, real-time experimental and simulated proof of a salinity gradient through convective flow, which is a promising solution for synchronous salt-rejection and intensified interfacial heat accumulation (42.8 °C) to generate vapor under 1 kW m−2 at a rate of 1.69 kg m−2 h−1 and actually yield freshwater at a rate of 12.31 kg m−2 per day. The state-of-art photo-thermoelectric performances revealed an enhanced output power density (Pout ∼ 12.3 W m−2) and open circuit current (Iout ∼ 61.3 mA) under 1 kW m−2 solar irradiation, which are higher than that of other nanogenerators. More importantly, for the first time, numerical heat transfer and computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulations were successfully performed to study the salt-resistant mechanisms by computing the hot brine mass flux via chemical convection. Our work will further accelerate the distillate rate or zero liquid discharge phenomenon for the practical implementation of solar-driven seawater desalination and a clean source of energy generation.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2025
·
IF 13.2
Qiannan Cheng,Tao Peng,Jie Li,Lijie Liu,Qingquan Tang,Luoxin Wang,Hua Wang,Jiang Gong
With the rapid popularity of liquid crystal polyesters (LCPs) in 5G chip packaging materials, a large amount of waste LCPs were produced. However, the recycling and reutilization of waste LCPs are rarely investigated so far. Herein, the waste LCPs are calcinated by “controlled carbonization” strategy to produce microporous carbons, showing potential in producing freshwater and electricity based on solar-irradiated photothermal conversion. ZnCl 2 /NaCl eutectic salts were used to catalyze the dehydration and decarboxylation of LCPs to form aromatic fragments and then construct microporous carbon skeletons. The resultant carbons show high specific surface areas and solar absorption efficiency. They were used to prepare interfacial solar steam evaporators, showing a high evaporation rate of 2.17 kg/m 2 /h with the energy conversion efficiency of 97.5 % and a high electricity generation with an output power of 0.902 W/m 2 under 1 sun irradiation. This work not only provides a feasible approach to the sustainable conversion of low-cost waste LCPs into valuable carbon materials by a “controlled carbonization” strategy, but also gives impetus to the potential of microporous carbons for application in solar freshwater and electricity generation.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Small
·
2024
·Vol. 20
·期 38
·2402863
·
IF 13
Nan He,Xisheng Sun,Haonan Wang,Bingsen Wang,Dawei Tang,Lin Li
Facing the increasing global shortage of freshwater resources, this study presents a suspended multilayer evaporator (SMLE), designed to tackle the principal issues plaguing current solar-driven interfacial evaporation technologies, specifically, substantial thermal losses and limited water production. This approach, through the implementation of a multilayer structural design, enables superior thermal regulation throughout the evaporation process. This evaporator consists of a radiation damping layer, a photothermal conversion layer, and a bottom layer that leverages radiation, wherein the bottom layer exhibits a notable infrared emissivity. The distinctive feature of the design effectively reduces radiative heat loss and facilitates dual-interface evaporation by heating the water surface through mid-infrared radiation. The refined design leads to a notable evaporation rate of 2.83 kg m −2 h −1 . Numerical simulations and practical performance evaluations validate the effectiveness of the multilayer evaporator in actual use scenarios. This energy-recycling and dual-interface evaporation multilayered approach propels the design of high-efficiency solar-driven interfacial evaporators forward, presenting new insights into developing effective water-energy transformation systems.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源技术
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2024
·
IF 13.3
Mingming Chang,Lunhong Ai,Ruiru Yang,Xinzhi Wang,Ying Xu,Jing Jiang
Solar-driven interfacial steam generation (SISG) is a promising cutting-edge technology for addressing challenges related to water scarcity and environmental issues. Solar-to-heat conversion is essential for this technology and highly relies on photothermal materials. Herein, we present a new class of two-dimensional (2D) layered photothermal materials, namely 2D transition metal boride MBene, to integrate thermally insulated nylon membrane to create SISG evaporator for solar steam generation. The MBene membrane gains broadband light absorption, effective heat localization and rapid water transport, which exhibits excellent solar steam generation performance with a high evaporation rate of 1.59 kg m -2 h −1 and efficiency as high as 96.66 % under one-sun irradiation. Significantly, the MBene membrane displays favorable robustness and flexible applications in steaming various contaminated wastewater sources (e.g. organic dyes, antibiotics, oil–water emulsions, heavy metal and acidic/alkaline solutions) at high rejection efficiency and outstanding durability. Meanwhile, the sustainable production of high-quality freshwater through solar desalination of seawater and brine solutions can be also achieved over this SISG system. The present study demonstrates a new photothermal conversion capability of MBene-based materials and its great potential in SISG applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CELLULOSE
·
2022
·Vol. 30
·期 2
·1103-1115
·
IF 6.123
Wang Weiming,Wu Yuming,Yi Jie,Yang Yuhan,Shen Meiling,Yang Zhihui,Peng Shuai,Min Xue,Yang Xixian,Xiong Jun,Li Ming
Solar vapor production is considered an effective and environmentally friendly method of reducing freshwater shortages. However, designing an affordable solar evaporator with a simple method is still a challenge. Herein, motivated by the transpiration of plants, a full cattail leaf-based solar evaporator has been developed. In this solar evaporator, the photothermal membrane has been exploited by simply cross-linking the carbonized cattail leaf and the fibers from the alkali-treated cattail leaf with sodium alginate. The original cattail leaf with its square water transport channels and inherent hydrophilicity is employed to pump the bottom water to the upper photothermal membrane. Thanks to the synergistic effect between the photothermal membrane and the cattail leaf-based water transporter, the full cattail leaf-derived solar evaporator acquires an evaporation rate of 1.46 kg m –2 h –1 with a solar thermal efficiency of 87.48% under 1-solar (1 kW m –2 ). Fifteen-cycle experiments indicate that this solar evaporator has excellent stability. Outdoor experiments demonstrate that the full cattail leaf-based solar evaporator can effectively desalinate seawater and purify dyeing wastewater. Moreover, the total cost of the chemicals applied to manufacture 1 m 2 of cattail leaf-based photothermal membrane is approximately 3.1 dollars. This strategy is expected to turn freely available biomass into a potentially valuable solar evaporator with a simple cross-linking method and an affordable price that offers a promising future for alleviating the global freshwater crisis. Graphical abstract
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Materials Today Communications
·
2023
·
IF 3.8
Xiaoping Hu,Na Xue,Huanhuan Wang,Na Wei,Yuhao Zhang,Hongzhi Cui
Solar steam generation is an economical, environmentally friendly, promising method for producing freshwater from seawater. However, solar steam generation is still limited by high material cost and poor stability. Designing an evaporator with cost-effectiveness and stable structure is highly desired. Here, single-layer Ti 3 C 2 (SL-Ti 3 C 2 ) nanosheets were prepared by ball milling and then mixed with cotton (SL-Ti 3 C 2 /cotton) to obtain a stable evaporator. Due to the broadband absorption of SL-Ti 3 C 2 and the multi-scale absorption of incident light, the prepared solar evaporator showed high light absorption of 97.18 %. Combined with the cotton-assisted water transport, the evaporation rate of the evaporator reached 1.32 kg m −2 h −1 and 7.08 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 sun and 5 sun illumination, respectively. Furthermore, our evaporator could be used continuously more than 30 times, which exhibited good durability and desalination performance. Simultaneously, due to the cheap cotton and ultra-small count addition of SL-Ti 3 C 2 , the evaporator shows a high cost-effectiveness of 776 g/h/$, far beyond previously reported solar evaporation systems. It is worth noting that the evaporator could separate freshwater from simulates heavy metal ions and organic solutions. This simple preparation solar absorber shows great potential for water treatment and seawater desalination.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源研究
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
·
2022
·Vol. 10
·期 23
·12608-12615
·
IF 14.511
Wei Wang,Yan Wang,Jia Zheng,Xiao Yu,Wansong Chen,Jianghua Li,You-Nian Liu
Solar-driven clean water production presents unique merits of sustainability and environmental friendliness. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to the preparation of solar-driven vapor generators (SVGs) with timely water transport and/or excellent light-trapping properties. Herein, an efficient SVG is achieved by the combination of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel and Prussian blue (PB), with a unique vasculature obtained through techniques of a directional freezing and salting-out strategy. Thermodynamic calculations indicate that the water in this SVG system has lower vaporization enthalpy (1126.9 J g−1) than bulk water (2460.0 J g−1), which can be attributed to the high content of weakly hydrogen-bonded water in the PVA fibers. Moreover, both the experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that the vertically arranged channels existing in the SVG ensure rapid water transport (1.6 cm min−1) and light-trapping capacities. Benefitting from the above factors, the SVG exhibits a freshwater production rate of 3.44 ± 0.17 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun (1 kW m−2) irradiation with a photothermal conversion efficiency of up to 95% in 3.5% NaCl brine, reaching the theoretical ceiling of PVA-based materials. Additionally, it can work in practical environments for a long time without performance degradation, which is usually caused by salt scaling and biological fouling. This new kind of vasculatural hydrogel-based SVG is a competitive candidate for solar-driven clean water production, thus satisfying the growing demand for clean and safe drinking water.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）