Photothermal Conversion Material Derived from Used Cigarette Filters for Solar Steam Generation

Abstract

Solar steam generation by photothermal materials has recently emerged as a new and feasible approach to effectively harvest solar energy in a variety of applications. This work reports an efficient heat localization material based on the renewable cellulose acetate cigarette filters and a reduced graphene oxide coating (RGO‐CF) as the light‐to‐heat conversion layer for solar steam generation. RGO‐CF possessed an aligned structure with superhydrophilic nature, lower thermal conductivity (0.0733 Wm−1 K−1), and broad light adsorption (≈100 %). These characteristics enable rapid water transportation and excellent light‐to‐heat conversion by the resulting RGO‐CF with an energy conversion efficiency of 94 % under stimulated solar illumination (1 kW m−2), which demonstrates that RGO‐CF is a promising photothermal conversion material for solar steam generation. Such strategy for preparation of photothermal materials not only reduces the fabrication cost but also provides a fundamental guidance for the practical application of renewable polymer resources from used cigarette filters.

Bilayer rGO‐Based Photothermal Evaporator for Efficient Solar‐Driven Water Purification[]**

“…These results should be mainly attributed to the remarkable light absorption capacity of the aerogels with aligned microchannels and the rGO intrinsic excellent ability to convert light into thermal energy. [43,44] Water evaporation under one sun irradiation was recorded to evaluate the photothermal performance of the bilayer aerogels. As shown in Figure 3d, the quantity of water steadily decreased with prolonged exposure time because of the vapor generation.…”

Citric acid modified waste cigarette filters for adsorptive removal of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution

“…The possible disposable methods for collected CFs involve incineration and land filling, which create toxic fumes and are costly to undertake. However, several studies have shown successful recycling of CFs into functional materials 47,48 . The recycling of waste CFs allows the safe disposal of toxic chemicals obtained during the washing of CFs and also reduces the cost of collection and disposal.…”

Recent Progress on the Solar‐Driven Interfacial Evaporation Based on Natural Products and Synthetic Polymers

“…They also pulped waste paper through different solutions, processed it into a carbonized shape, and directly used it for SSG. [ 126,127 ] They proposed a facile way of preparing a low‐cost multifunctional porous carbon monolith (PCM) using waste‐corrugated cardboard box (WCCB) as the raw material, turning waste into treasure, which realized the real green environmental protection law to produce clean water.…”