Integrated photothermal aerogels with ultrahigh-performance solar steam generation

Gu, Yufei; Mu, Xiaojiang; Wang, Pengfei; Wang, Xiaoyang; Liu, Jing; Shi, Junxiang; Wei, Anyun; Tian, Yongzhi; Zhu, Guisheng; Xu, Hui; Zhou, Jianhua; Liu, Miao

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104857

Cited by 121 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Many kinds of photothermal conversion materials have been developed, such as plasmonic nanomaterials, [ 13 ] semiconductors, [ 14 ] polymers, [ 15 ] and carbon‐based materials. [ 16 ] However, most of these materials are complicated to prepare or expensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional Hydrothermal‐Carbonized Sugarcane for Highly Efficient Direct Solar Steam Generation

et al. 2021

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Solar steam generation is an environmentally friendly water treatment method that produces clean water using solar energy. However, it is still a challenge to effectively prevent the performance deterioration when most photothermal conversion materials are used to evaporate high‐concentration salt‐containing wastewater or strong acid/alkali solution. Herein, a stable and effective solar evaporator is designed using natural sugarcane, where sucrose is simply dehydrated into carbon particles by hydrothermal reaction in sulfuric acid. With a honeycomb structure, it not only enables water transport capacity but also promotes sunlight absorption. Sulfuric acid hydrothermal carbonized sugarcane (SHCSC) can reach up to 95.36% solar absorption in a wide wavelength range (200–2500 nm) and a high evaporation rate of 2.32 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun illumination. More importantly, SHCSC has an excellent adsorption capacity with ion removal rate of 99.9% even under artificial wastewater containing 1000 mg L−1 of mixed metal ions. SHCSC also can perform efficiently and stably at a high evaporation rate above 2.2 kg m−2 h−1 in strong acidic or alkaline wastewater. These findings suggest that SHCSC can be potentially applied to the efficient harvest of clean water from the high‐concentration wastewater containing acid, alkali, and mixed metal ions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional Hydrothermal‐Carbonized Sugarcane for Highly Efficient Direct Solar Steam Generation

et al. 2021

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“…Based on our previous work, the structure and pore size of aerogel can flexibly controlled by adjusting frozen preferential direction and temperature. [ 31 ] Here, a 3D honeycomb‐like porous PPCA is fabricated by a lyophilizer with circular frozen system, which promotes the growth of ice crystals from outside to inside along the radial direction and then removes the ice template by sublimation. The porous structure of PPCA results in ultralight performance and can stand on the green shoots of ginger ( Figure a).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, based on our previous work on mimetic transpiration system (MTS) and frozen photothermal aerogel technology, [ 31 ] an integrative self‐cleaning chitosan‐based photothermal aerogel for long‐term solar‐assisted desalination is exhibited in Figure . 3D honeycombed chitosan (CS)‐based aerogel was prepared using phase transition freeze‐drying method, where amorphous carbon powders (pomelo peel carbonization powders, named as PPCPs) were evenly distributed on porous CS backbone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Cleaning Integrative Aerogel for Stable Solar‐Assisted Desalination

Wang

et al. 2020

Global Challenges

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The solar‐assisted desalination generator (SADG) shows great potential for solving water scarcity problems. However, salt precipitation and accumulation is still a challenge for SADG, which slows down solar steam generation performance of evaporator during operation. Here, a facile integrative evaporator featuring stable and high evaporation performance breaks this bottleneck. By using a rational design in which amorphous carbon particles are evenly composited within the porous chitosan aerogel, the evaporator not only integrates excellent light absorption, heat management, and water transportation abilities but also endows a large vapor escape space. Upon desalination, salt concentration ingredients between carbon particles and chitosan membranes can be quickly balanced by water transport in interconnected chitosan chains, and thus salt precipiation on the evaporator surface would be avoided. Compared to other salt‐rejection evaporators, the integrative evaporator can operate in 3.5 wt% brine for 60 days without salt precipiation and exhibits a stable evaporation rate (1.70 kg m−2 h−1), indicating its potential for practical applications in seawater desalination and the harvest of clean drinking water.

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“…[ 157 ] Afterward, there were studies on a variety of comparable two‐layer structure. such as air‐laid paper, [ 108,158 ] cellulose, [ 107,159 ] AAO, [ 56,62 ] leaf, [ 160 ] wood [ 58,161 ] carbon foam, [ 162 ] geopolymer [ 105 ] and electro spun polyacrylonitrile [ 104 ] were utilized as the bottom materials for water transport and insulation. The observed low efficiency of this structure is not enough due to weakening the thermal barrier as water entering the pores of the evaporation system.…”

Section: Efficient Heat‐to‐steam Conversion and Vapor Condensationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoenabled Photothermal Materials for Clean Water Production

2020

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Solar‐powered water evaporation is a primitive technology but interest has revived in the last five years due to the use of nanoenabled photothermal absorbers. The cutting‐edge nanoenabled photothermal materials can exploit a full spectrum of solar radiation with exceptionally high photothermal conversion efficiency. Additionally, photothermal design through heat management and the hierarchy of smooth water‐flow channels have evolved in parallel. Indeed, the integration of all desirable functions into one photothermal layer remains an essential challenge for an effective yield of clean water in remote‐sensing areas. Some nanoenabled photothermal prototypes equipped with unprecedented water evaporation rates have been reported recently for clean water production. Many barriers and difficulties remain, despite the latest scientific and practical implementation developments. This Review seeks to inspire nanoenvironmental research communities to drive onward toward real‐time solar‐driven clean water production.

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Integrated photothermal aerogels with ultrahigh-performance solar steam generation

Cited by 121 publications

References 49 publications

Multifunctional Hydrothermal‐Carbonized Sugarcane for Highly Efficient Direct Solar Steam Generation

Multifunctional Hydrothermal‐Carbonized Sugarcane for Highly Efficient Direct Solar Steam Generation

Self‐Cleaning Integrative Aerogel for Stable Solar‐Assisted Desalination

Nanoenabled Photothermal Materials for Clean Water Production

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