Construction of Novel Biomass‐Based Solar Evaporator with Asymmetric Dual‐Layer Structure for Water Desalination

Abstract

Solar desalination technology is regarded as a low‐carbon and environment‐friendly technology to address the water crisis. The current challenge is that sunlight irradiates directly the entire water body, resulting in a low photothermal conversion efficiency. Herein, a novel photothermal compound material with dual‐layer structure for solar‐steam‐generation is developed by depositing multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and carbon black nanoparticles (CB) onto a biomass reed straw (RS) skeleton. With respect to the lower layer of the resultant generator, the porous RS skeleton with open‐cell vessel channels and closed‐cell porous basic tissues can not only supply the water to the upper layer through the capillary force, but also insulate the heat transport. Additionally, the MWCNTs‐CB hybrid photothermal composite on the upper layer with large specific surface and roughness facilitates the evaporation of water by the generated heat from the absorbed solar light. The composite generator possesses an extremely high spectral absorption of ≈99% in wet state, along with a superb evaporation rate of ≈1.45 kg m−2 h−1 and photothermal conversion efficiency of ≈87.58% under one sunlight irradiation. Thus, the deposition of MWCNTs‐CB on a renewable biomass RS skeleton develops an ideal candidate generator that hold a desirable promise for applications in seawater desalination.

Ultra salt-resistant solar desalination system via large-scale easy assembly of microstructural units

“…S12, ESI†). Given the excellent salt resistance of the SR evaporator, 31–37 it exhibits an outstanding energy efficiency compared with the previous SDID systems (Fig. 5e).…”

A solar-powered interfacial evaporation system based on MoS2-decorated magnetic phase-change microcapsules for sustainable seawater desalination

“…7h). 31–37 In addition, the evaporation rate of the MoS 2 -MEPCM evaporator is proportional to the solar illumination intensity, and its evaporation efficiency increases from 93.45% to 96.69% when the solar illumination intensity is increased from 0.5 to 3.0 kW m −2 (Fig. 7i).…”

High-Porosity Lamellar Films Prepared by a Multistage Assembly Strategy for Efficient Photothermal Water Evaporation and Power Generation

“…where A (%), R (%), and T (%) refer to absorption, reflection, and transmission, respectively. 68 The transmittance of the lamellar films in dry or wet state is about 0% (Figure S5). The absorption rate of dry samples was 86−90% at a wavelength of 200 nm (Figure S6).…”

“…The transmission, reflection, and absorption spectra of n -PSS@CNT/rGO lamellar films under dry and wet conditions were characterized by UV–vis near-infrared spectrometry, and the optical properties of the lamellar films in the solar wavelength range were explored. The absorption can be calculated according to where A (%), R (%), and T (%) refer to absorption, reflection, and transmission, respectively . The transmittance of the lamellar films in dry or wet state is about 0% (Figure S5).…”

“…Stability is another important factor in evaluating performance . As shown in Figure S18, the 1-PSS@CNT/rGO film can be relatively stable output in the 10 h test (room temperature is 25° and relative humidity is 60%).…”