No abstract

Construction of anisotropic micro-channels in aerogel-based evaporators has been considered as a promising way to solve the salt accumulation and contaminant influence issues in the solar-driven interfacial evaporation process, however, which still suffer from drawbacks like costly fabrications. Herein, composite aerogels with anisotropic micro-channels were constructed through a simple co-assembly strategy between biomass chitosan and WS2 nanosheets. Ascribing to the synergetic effects of photothermal conversion capabilities of WS2 nanosheets and hydrophilia of chitosan, as well as the oriented microporous channels throughout the aerogels, the obtained aerogels (CS/WS2) exhibited a max evaporation rate of ∼2.10 kg m–2 h–1 and a conversion efficiency of ∼87.9% under 1 sun illumination and presented continuous production of clean water even in acidic, alkaline, and organic dye solutions and high-salinity brines. Thus, this study paves a novel and simple strategy to build anisotropic micro-channels in aerogel evaporators for efficient and sustainable solar evaporation and desalination.

This study was first conducted to comprehensively investigate the potential of yak manure as a raw material to prepare fuel pellets. The effect of different parameters such as binder, pressure, and moisture content on pellet density and diametric compressing strength was investigated using a laboratory single pelleting press unit. Results showed that increasing the pressure can help to obtain high-quality fuel pellets. The pellet properties (density and diametric compressing strength) initially increased and then decreased with moisture content increase. By contrast, binder was not identified to promote density and diametric compressing strength. The parameters were optimized using the response surface method with central composite design to obtain high-quality pellets. In conclusion, the use of yak manure as a raw material to make fuels can be considered a sustainable approach and can effectively be used to fulfill the energy and heating requirements of rural areas.