Hierarchically Nanostructured Janus Membranes Toward Sustainable and Efficient Solar‐to‐Thermal Management

Abstract

Solar-enabled thermal management is emerging as a promising candidate to exploit green, low-cost and efficient heat-related applications, which has drawn extensive intensity for the development of solar-to-thermal materials with high-performance and desirable functionality. However, there still remain considerable challenges, such as the sharp temperature fluctuations under water-related environment, high cost, complex fabrication approaches and limited energy efficiency. Here, superhydrophobic and photothermal nanostructured Janus membranes composed of hierarchical candle soot and transparent polydimethylsiloxane is proposed in a simple, low-cost, and effective way. The achieved membranes can readily adapt to curved surfaces and enable efficient solar-to-thermal capability of ≈68 °C under 1 sun and good water-repellant property of ≈159.7. Therefore, it can still maintain stable temperature without remarkable temperature decline when exposed to the high-moisture environment. Also, the asymmetric structure can further endow the membrane with declined heat dissipation for high-performance thermal management. Moreover, it can further function as a self-supported agricultural film to continuously heat the soils with stable temperature for efficient bean growth, demonstrating significant potential in the new generation of urban agriculture.

Visible Light Locking in Mineral-Based Composite Phase Change Materials Enabling High Photothermal Conversion and Storage

“…Graphite nanoplates convert solar light into thermal energy through lattice vibrations of the carbon backbone. Furthermore, because the PW has low specific heat capacity, heat transferred from the graphite nanoplates is further accumulated and stored in the PW, resulting in an excellent photothermal conversion capacity . Based on the aforementioned analysis, the theoretical simulation is consistent with our experimental result.…”

Symmetric and Asymmetric Fabry–Pérot Cavity Design for a Dual-Mode Thermal Management Photonic Film with High-Purity Color

“…The temperature difference between the film and ambient (30 °C) in heating mode is up to 61.1 °C, and the subambient temperature drop is 5.8 °C in cooling mode when h c = 6 W/m 2 /K. In addition, compared with the traditional black heating mode, the maximum sunlight absorption rate of this color film is only 61.5%, but it makes the steady-state temperature higher than that of the traditional black structure, where the absorption of sunlight is about 100%. ,,, Compared to traditional coatings, the colored dual-mode film can save up to 10.3% of annual energy in the northern and southern temperate zones. This work can be expected to provide new insights and guidance for preparing high-performance color dual-mode RTM products.…”

Foaming photothermal inks for direct-ink writing: hierarchical design and enhanced solar-powered interfacial evaporation

“…[18][19][20][21] These 3D platforms aim to boost solar evaporation, clean water production, and nd applications in various hybrid scenarios, including decontamination, component adsorption, zero liquid discharge, waste energy conversion and responsive environmental stimuli. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] Biomass-derived, template-assisted sol-gel routes and foaming technologies are commonly used methods for fabrication of 3D photothermal monoliths from composite systems (i.e., carbon-rich materials and versatile polymers). [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] For instance, porous photothermal scaffolds (i.e., membranes, aerogels, hydrogels and foams) were generally pre-fabricated and employed as distinct structural elements.…”

“…18–21 These 3D platforms aim to boost solar evaporation, clean water production, and find applications in various hybrid scenarios, including decontamination, component adsorption, zero liquid discharge, waste energy conversion and responsive environmental stimuli. 22–31…”