Journal of Materials Chemistry A
·
2024
·
IF 10.7
Rongtai Yu,Jianchao Xie,Fangfen Jin,Weiwei Lu,Mingzhu Jin,Xinyang He,Ashok K. Nanjundan,Chengzhong Yu,Xiaodan Huang
Solar-driven interfacial evaporation systems hold great potential for addressing clean water scarcity and wastewater purification challenges. However, low water yield and the presence of contaminants in wastewater remain significant obstacles. This study introduces wide light-absorbing hydrophilic aminophenol–formaldehyde (APF) resin particles with π-conjugated and π-stacked benzenoid–quinoid donor–acceptor couples as light absorbers to enhance solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency. The incorporation of hydrophilic amine groups led to a 30% increase in the evaporation rate and a 32% reduction in the evaporation enthalpy. The carbonized APF-based evaporator achieved a high evaporation rate of 2.89 kg m−2 h−1 and 3.07 kg m−2 h−1 from sewage and simulated seawater, respectively, under natural solar irradiance (0.7 suns). Furthermore, solar vapor generation rates reached 16.22 kg m−2 h−1 and 13.98 kg m−2 h−1 from sewage and simulated seawater under 3.9 suns. The APF-based evaporator also demonstrated exceptional stability and durability in solar-to-vapor conversion.
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
CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS
·
2025
·
IF 12.5
Junbo Chen,Yuanpeng Xie,Maosong Tian,Jingfu Tian,Zhihao Liang,Haibo Xie,Menglan Lv
Cellulose has drawn much attention in the field of interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) due to its advantages of renewability, abundant availability, and hydrophilicity. However, the hydroxyl groups of cellulose form weak hydrogen bond interaction with water, resulting in high evaporation enthalpy and thereby low evaporation rate. Herein, carboxylic acid groups possess of strong interaction with water were introduced into cellulose hydrogel to fabricate efficient ISSG. The carboxylated cellulose hydrogels feature excellent hydrophilicity and water supply capacity because of its rich hydroxyl groups, carboxyl groups, and pore structure. More importantly, the carboxyl groups can effectively weaken the hydrogen bond interactions between water molecules, resulting in larger intermediate water contents that reduced water vaporization enthalpy as small as 1198 J g −1 . Consequently, the evaporator shows a remarkable evaporation rate of 3.68 kg m −2 h −1 under one sun irradiation when using bamboo carbon black as the photothermal material. Moreover, the evaporator exhibits superior seawater and sewage purification capabilities, along with outstanding salt resistance. This work presents an advisable strategy of cellulose structure design for interfacial solar evaporation.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Materials Horizons
·
2025
·
IF 10.7
Maosong Tian,Junbo Chen,Jingfu Tian,Zhihao Liang,Yuanpeng Xie
Natural wood has garnered significant interest in the field of solar steam generation (SSG), due to its merits of widespread availability, hydrophilicity, and inherent porous structure. However, the limited capillary water content and high evaporation enthalpy of wood hinder the evaporation rates of wood-based SSG. In this study, a sulfonated porous wood with high capillary water content and small evaporation enthalpy was developed for efficient solar evaporation. The relatively hydrophobic lignin and hemicellulose were initially removed to enhance capillary effects, achieving a water absorption rate of 5.2 g g−1. Subsequently, sulfonic acid groups were grafted onto the wood surface to weaken the hydrogen bond interaction between water molecules, and thereby reducing the evaporation enthalpy to 1197 J g−1. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the sulfonated wood surface contains abundant hydrogen bonding sites, which thermodynamically enhance the escape behavior of water molecules. As a result, the all-biomass SSG demonstrated an evaporation rate of up to 3.4 kg m−2 h−1 when combined with bamboo carbon black as a photothermal material, representing the highest evaporation rate for wood-based solar evaporation to date. This work provides an effective strategy for efficient wood-based solar steam generation.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2021
·
IF 13.273
Congcong Li,Bo Zhu,Zixiao Liu,Jiangtong Zhao,Ruru Meng,Lisha Zhang,Zhigang Chen
Photothermal membranes have been widely developed for solar seawater desalination, but their practical applications are limited by high evaporation enthalpy and solid-salt crystallization. To solve this problem, we prepared an anionic polyelectrolyte-based hydrogel (APH) as an “all-in-one” evaporator, possessing both photothermal property (to evaporate seawater) and electrostatic repulsion (to avoid solid-salt crystallization). The APH was prepared by freeze-thaw method, and it was composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) as framework and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(sodium-p-styrenesulfonate) as solar absorber. The fabricated material showed porous structure with solar absorption efficiency of 95.5% in 380–2500 nm. After soaking by water, the APH exhibited an evaporation enthalpy as low as 1624.14 kJ kg −1 with a high intermediate/free water ratio of 2.27:1, deriving from the interfacial electrostatic effect of SO 3 − and large amount of OH – from poly(vinyl alcohol) frame. Under the irradiation of simulated sunlight (1.0 kW m −2 ), the APH showed a high evaporation rate of 2.5 kg m −2 h −1 and its solar evaporation efficiency reached 90.7%. Importantly, the SO 3 − groups can efficiently separate anions (such as Cl − ) from cations (such as Na + and Mg 2+ ) in the evaporator, avoiding the formation of solid-salt crystals. The excellent evaporation performance and salt tolerance of APH confer broad practical prospects for solar-driven seawater desalination.
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
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
·
2024
·
IF 7.7
Qiao You,Mingxing Li,Ying Yuan,Xiaolan Liang,Yunhua Chen,Chaoyang Wang,Li Zhou,Tao Wang,Hongxia Liu
Solar energy interfacial evaporation represents a promising and sustainable approach with considerable potential for seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. Nonetheless, creating durable evaporators for continuous operation presents a challenge. Motivated by natural self-healing mechanisms, this study developed a novel 3D hybrid aero-hydrogel, which exhibited a self-healing efficiency of 89.4 % and an elongation at break post-healing of 637.7 %, featuring self-healing capabilities and continuous operation potential. Especially, the incorporation of hyperbranched water-soluble polymers (peach gum polysaccharide) endow the final solar water evaporators with a lower evaporation enthalpy of water, resulting in that the refined SVG3, with a notable water surface architecture and an expanded evaporation area, achieved a steam generation rate of 2.13 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 Sun. Notably, SVG2 achieved a high evaporation rate of 2.43 kg m −2 h −1 with the combined energy input of 1 Sun and 6 V, significantly surpassing the rate of 1.96 kg m −2 h −1 without voltage input. The results indicate that electrical energy significantly enhances and synergizes with SVG, facilitating continuous operation both day and night through the combined use of solar energy and electrical input. This study offers insightful perspectives for the strategic design of multifunctional hydrogels for solar water evaporation.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Polymers
·
2023
·Vol. 15
·期 9
·2108
·
IF 5
Shi-Chang Hou,Dao-Wei Zhang,Jun Chen,Xiao-Xiao Guo,Abdul Haleem,Wei-Dong He
Because of the increasing scarcity of water resources, the desalination of seawater by photothermal evaporation with harvested solar energy has gradually become a popular research topic. The interconnected macroporous cryogel prepared from polymerization and crosslinking below the freezing temperature of the reactant solution has an excellent performance in photothermal water evaporation after loading photothermal materials. In this study, polyacrylamide (PAM) cryogels were prepared by cryo-polymerization and sulfonated in an alkaline solution containing formaldehyde and Na2SO3. Importantly, the evaporation enthalpy of water in sulfonated PAM cryogel was reduced to 1187 J·g−1due to the introduction of sulfonate groups into PAM, which was beneficial to increase the photothermal evaporation rate and efficiency. The sulfonated PAM cryogels loaded with polypyrrole and the umbrella-shaped melamine foam substrate were combined to form a photothermal evaporation device, and the evaporation rate was as high as 2.50 kg·m−2·h−1under one-sun radiation. Meanwhile, the evaporation rate reached 2.09 kg·m−2·h−1in the 14 wt% high-concentration saline solution, and no salt crystals appeared on the surface of the cryogel after 5 h of photothermal evaporation. Therefore, it was evidenced that the presence of sulfonate groups not only reduced the evaporation enthalpy of water but also prevented salting-out from blocking the water delivery channel during photothermal evaporation, with a sufficiently high evaporation rate, providing a reliable idea of matrix modification for the design of high-efficiency photothermal evaporation materials.Keywords:polymeric cryogel;polyacrylamide;photothermal evaporation;evaporation enthalpy;sulfonating modification
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Matter
·
2024
·
IF 17.3
Xueyan Hu,Peiying Hu,Ling Liu,Liming Zhao,Siyuan Dou,Weibang Lv,Yi Long,Jin Wang,Qingwen Li
Increasing extreme heat stress puts humans at risk of heat stroke and dehydration in outdoor environments. However, current personal thermal management (PTM) approaches in hot summers suffer from low cooling efficiency. Here, we designed a lightweight, hierarchically porous hydrogel (HPHG) with low density, robust breaking strength, high evaporation enthalpy, high solar reflectance, and infrared emissivity, and controlled evaporation speed. The HPHG shows strong and prolonged passive cooling: sub-ambient temperature cooling up to 22.5°C under direct sunlight and a prolonged cooling time of >15 h. The HPHG can also be fabricated into a lightweight cooling vest (<350 g), achieving an average temperature drop of 11°C compared to air temperature. The concept of HPHG proposed in this study opens an avenue for hydrogel as a lightweight and wearable material in PTM and solves the bottleneck problem of passive cooling under extreme heat stress in an outdoor environment.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY
·
2024
·
IF 8.1
Wenqi Wang,Xiping Gao,Jing Chen,Chang Lu,Qiancheng Zhang,Yanzi Li,Ruitao Zhang,Dahu Yao,Xinchang Pang
Solar interfacial evaporation technology has been widely used in the field of water purification due to its low carbon emission and environmental friendliness. However, improving evaporation rates through the structural design of interfacial evaporators remains a challenge. Here, we prepared biodegradable aerogels based on cellulose nanofibers, chitosan, and citric acid, and subsequently prepared a solar evaporator with low enthalpy of evaporation by loading polypyrrole photothermal conversion agent on the aerogel. The evaporator is rich in hydrophilic groups such as hydroxyl, amine, and carboxyl groups, and the hydrogen bonding between them and water molecules changes the state of water adsorbed in the aerogel and reduces the evaporation enthalpy of the adsorbed water. The DSC results show that the evaporation enthalpy of water in the evaporator is as low as 1103 J g −1 . As a result, the solar evaporator has a high evaporation rate of 3.29 kg m −2 h −1 for pure water and 3.57 kg m −2 h −1 for 3.5 wt% brine with a solar efficiency of only 86.2 % (1.0 sunlight intensity). Moreover, the evaporator also has a better purification ability for dye wastewater. This research presents a simple and effective strategy for manufacturing high-performance degradable evaporators from biomass materials.
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
Nano Energy
·
2022
·
IF 19.069
Yi Lu,Deqi Fan,Ziyi Shen,Hao Zhang,Haolan Xu,Xiaofei Yang
Interfacial solar evaporation technology is recognized as one of the most promising strategies to address freshwater scarcity issues. To realize the sustainability of this technology for producing potable water from seawater and contaminated water sources, multi-functional photothermal materials need to be explored to attain higher vapor output at the same solar energy input. Herein, a novel wood-based solar evaporator composed of porous wood substrate, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), and polydopamine (PDA) as a light absorption layer is developed. The in-situ loading of ZIF-8 in the microchannels renders the wood evaporator an important function of reducing the equivalent evaporation enthalpy due to the lowered hydrogen bonding density of water molecules when they pass the wood channels, substantially augmenting solar evaporation efficiency. A superior evaporation rate of 2.70 kg m −2 h −1 is achieved under 1.0 sun irradiation, which exceeds the theoretical limit of a typical 2D photothermal evaporator (~1.46 kg m −2 h −1 ). The designed wood/ZIF-8@PDA also exhibits a prominent removal efficiency for harmful ions and organic pollutants. This multifunctional wood-based solar evaporator shows great potential for future freshwater production.
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
DESALINATION
·
2025
·
IF 9.8
Ruiqi Li,Yuan Liu,Jie He,Chunhong Zhang,Jianwei Bai,Yueling Sun,Wenxin Diao,XiaoYan Tang
The technology of solar-driven interfacial water evaporation (SDWE) is a promising approach for producing freshwater, which addresses the challenges of water scarcity and aims for sustainable desalination. However, the low rate of evaporation poses a major obstacle to the broader implementation of SDWE technology. In the present research, drawing inspiration from the porous structure of natural wood, we developed hydrogel evaporators with vertically aligned channels adjusting pore sizes, composed of polyacrylamide/hydroxypropyl cellulose, through directional freeze casting techniques. In view of excellent superhydrophilic properties and adjustable aperture, the transport of water was improved to meet the requirement of thermal management preferably, effectively reducing heat loss. Furthermore, by optimizing hydratable polymeric network within the polyacrylamide/hydroxypropyl cellulose evaporator, the enthalpy of water evaporation could was reduced, resulting in a higher evaporation rate. The hydrogel evaporator prepared achieved a remarkable rate of 2.68 kg m −2 h −1 and an efficiency of 90.0 % under irradiation of 1 sun. In addition, this hydrogel evaporator displayed excellent resistance to salt and maintained stability during evaporation, making it a viable option for purifying various non-potable water types. Thus, this research provides an innovative perspective for improving the efficacy of solar-driven interfaces in processes such as seawater desalination and wastewater treatment by managing water transport and decreasing evaporation enthalpy.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境工程
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Small
·
2023
·Vol. 19
·期 19
·2206917
·
IF 13.3
Zhong-Yi Wang,Ying-Jie Zhu,Yu-Qiao Chen,Han-Ping Yu,Zhi-Chao Xiong
Solar energy-driven water evaporation is a promising sustainable strategy to purify seawater and contaminated water. However, developing solar evaporators with high water evaporation rates and excellent salt resistance still faces a great challenge. Herein, inspired by the long-range ordered structure and water transportation capability of lotus stem, a biomimetic aerogel with vertically ordered channels and low water evaporation enthalpy for high-efficiency solar energy-driven salt-resistant seawater desalination and wastewater purification is developed. The biomimetic aerogel consists of ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires as heat-insulating skeletons, polydopamine-modified MXene as a photothermal material with broadband sunlight absorption and high photothermal conversion efficiency, polyacrylamide, and polyvinyl alcohol as reagents to lower the water evaporation enthalpy and as glues to enhance the mechanical performance. The honeycomb porous structure, unidirectionally aligned microchannels, and nanowire/nanosheet/polymer pore wall endow the biomimetic aerogel with excellent mechanical properties, rapid water transportation, and excellent solar water evaporation performance. The biomimetic aerogel exhibits a high water evaporation rate (2.62 kg m −2 h −1 ) and energy efficiency (93.6%) under one sun irradiation. The superior salt-rejecting ability of the designed water evaporator enables stable and continuous seawater desalination, which is promising for application in water purification to mitigate the global water crisis.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
DESALINATION
·
2025
·
IF 9.8
Shengyi Wang,Cunxiu Zhang,Zhimeng Tang,Yiming Zhang,Sam Zhang,Deen Sun,Mingming Guo
Most hydrogels are composed of polymer chains lacking efficient light-absorbing groups, which presents a significant challenge for achieving high photothermal conversion efficiency and severely hinders the advancement of solar-driven interfacial evaporation technologies. In this study, a mechanically robust and conductive polypyrrole (PPy) hydrogel was successfully fabricated via oxidative polymerization combined with a secondary growth strategy. The resulting hydrogel exhibits an ultrahigh solar absorption efficiency of up to 98 % and achieves an evaporation rate of 3.85 kg m −2 h −1 under one sun illumination. To further enhance performance, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanosheets were introduced to regulate sulfur vacancies, thereby boosting the photothermal conversion efficiency of the MoS₂/PPy hydrogel. Additionally, the incorporation of MoS₂ optimized the hydrogel microstructure, suppressed salt accumulation, and promoted the formation of micro-meniscus structures and water droplets. These features effectively activated water molecules and reduced the evaporation enthalpy, resulting in a further increase in evaporation rate to 4.34 kg m −2 h −1 . This work offers a promising strategy for designing next-generation hydrogel-based solar evaporators that integrate high photothermal conversion efficiency, low evaporation enthalpy, and efficient water transport channels.
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）