Cold Vapor Generation beyond the Input Solar Energy Limit

Song, Haomin; Liu, Youhai; Liu, Zhejun; Singer, Matthew; Li, Chenyu; Cheney, Alec; Ji, Dengxin; Zhou, Lyu; Zhang, Nan; Zeng, Xie; Bei, Zongmin; Yu, Zongfu; Jiang, Suhua; Gan, Qiaoqiang

doi:10.1002/advs.201800222

Cited by 256 publications

(236 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Besides developing low‐cost photothermal materials, it is of paramount importance to design solar steaming‐collection systems that can be efficient as well as portable to address the needs of people on individual levels. 3D superstructures with large surface areas, which are often designed for energy and environment applications, have also demonstrated enhanced water evaporation rates due to the improved transpiration pathways compared to 2D structures . Some 3D solar steamers also exploit environmental energy and reach 100% efficiency in solar‐to‐vapor energy transfer .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…3D superstructures with large surface areas, which are often designed for energy and environment applications, have also demonstrated enhanced water evaporation rates due to the improved transpiration pathways compared to 2D structures . Some 3D solar steamers also exploit environmental energy and reach 100% efficiency in solar‐to‐vapor energy transfer . Despite high solar–thermal conversion efficiencies and water evaporation rates shown in some studies, the amount of actually collected clean water can be greatly compromised once the solar steamers are utilized in a steam‐collection setup.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the above study and analysis, the outstanding evaporation rates and energy conversion efficiency of the origami rose can also be understood from the perspective of operating temperatures of a solar steamer (Figure c,d). It has been observed that operating temperatures of 3D solar steamers are lower than those of their 2D counterparts . This can be attributed to the enlarged specific surface areas that allow more solar induced thermal energy to vaporize water, resulting in lower surface temperature.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Portable Low‐Pressure Solar Steaming‐Collection Unisystem with Polypyrrole Origamis

et al. 2019

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Solar steaming has emerged as a promising green technology that can address the global issue of scarcity of clean water. However, developing high‐performance, cost‐effective, and manufacturable solar‐steaming materials, and portable solar steaming‐collection systems for individuals remains a great challenge. Here, a one‐step, low‐cost, and mass‐producible synthesis of polypyrrole (PPy) origami‐based photothermal materials, and an original portable low‐pressure controlled solar steaming‐collection unisystem, offering synergetic high rates in both water evaporation and steam collection, are reported. Due to enhanced areas for vapor dissipation, the PPy origami improves the water evaporation rate by at least 71% to 2.12 kg m−2 h−1 from that of a planar structure and exhibits a solar–thermal energy conversion efficiency of 91.5% under 1 Sun. When further controlling the pressure to ≈0.17 atm in the steaming‐collection unisystem, the water collection rate improves by up to 52% systematically and dramatically. Although partial energy is utilized toward obtaining low‐pressure, evaluations show that the overall energy efficiency is improved remarkably in the low‐pressure system compared to that in ambient pressure. Furthermore, the device demonstrates effective decontamination of heavy metals, bacteria, and desalination. This work can inspire new paradigms toward developing high‐performance solar steaming technologies for individuals and households.

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Portable Low‐Pressure Solar Steaming‐Collection Unisystem with Polypyrrole Origamis

et al. 2019

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“…[121] In this case, due to the special configuration of vertical cylinder solar absorber, the temperature of side surface was lower than that of top side surfaces and even environmental temperature, because most of solar energy was absorbed by the top surface. [127] To the best of our knowledge, the above two cases are the first time to realize a net energy gain (i.e., low-grade heat) from the environment during solar steam generation, with great implication for the development of high-performance solar steam generation. Thus, this solar generator can obtain higher enhancement factor and yield an evaporation rate exceeding the theoretical value (100% solar-to-vapor energy transfer efficiency under 100 mW cm 2 of solar illumination).…”

Section: Strategies For Enhancing Water Evaporation Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Until now, there are only a few examples of solar steam generation device with 100% solar-to-vapor energy transfer efficiency, in spite of the implantation of some advanced strategies such as energy gain from environment to improve thermal management, [121,127] and 3D photothermal structure design to boost utilization of solar energy and minimize heat losses. The previous reports found that most solar steam generator devices exhibited a low water evaporation rate in the range of 1.0-1.5 kg m −2 h −1 under one sun illumination, and just a few cases can reach or exceed 2.0 kg m −2 h −1 .…”

Section: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

et al. 2019

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Producing affordable freshwater has been considered as a great societal challenge, and most conventional desalination technologies are usually accompanied with large energy consumption and thus struggle with the trade‐off between water and energy, i.e., the water–energy nexus. In recent decades, the fast development of state‐of‐the‐art photothermal materials has injected new vitality into the field of freshwater production, which can effectively harness abundant and clean solar energy via the photothermal effect to fulfill the blue dream of low‐energy water purification/harvesting, so as to reconcile the water–energy nexus. Driven by the opportunities offered by photothermal materials, tremendous effort has been made to exploit diverse photothermal‐assisted water purification/harvesting technologies. At this stage, it is imperative and important to review the recent progress and shed light on the future trend in this multidisciplinary field. Here, a brief introduction of the fundamental mechanism and design principle of photothermal materials is presented, and the emerging photothermal applications such as photothermal‐assisted water evaporation, photothermal‐assisted membrane distillation, photothermal‐assisted crude oil cleanup, photothermal‐enhanced photocatalysis, and photothermal‐assisted water harvesting from air are summarized. Finally, the unsolved challenges and future perspectives in this field are emphasized. It is envisioned that this work will help arouse future research efforts to boost the development of solar‐driven low‐energy water purification/harvesting.

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Development and Evolution of the System Structure for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation from Zero to Three Dimensions

Zhou

Liu

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

304

193

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Direct solar steam generation (DSSG) offers a promising, sustainable, and environmentally friendly solution to the energy and water crisis. In the past decades, DSSG has gained tremendous attention due to its potential applications for clean water production, desalination, wastewater treatment, and electric energy harvesting. Even though the solar–thermal conversion efficiency has approached 100% under 1 sun illumination (1 kW m−2) using various photothermal materials and systems, the optimization of the materials and system structure remains unclear because of the lack of evaluation methods in unity for the output efficiency. In this review, a few key concerns about different dimensional materials and systems that determine the characteristics of DSSG are explored. Quantitative analysis, including calculations and methods for the solar–thermal conversion efficiency, evaporation rate, and energy loss, is employed to evaluate the materials and systems from the point of view of ultimate utilization. This article focuses on the relationship between the system dimension and energy efficiency and notes opportunities for future system design and commercialization of DSSG.

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Cold Vapor Generation beyond the Input Solar Energy Limit

Cited by 256 publications

References 40 publications

Portable Low‐Pressure Solar Steaming‐Collection Unisystem with Polypyrrole Origamis

Portable Low‐Pressure Solar Steaming‐Collection Unisystem with Polypyrrole Origamis

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

Development and Evolution of the System Structure for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation from Zero to Three Dimensions

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