Solar absorber material and system designs for photothermal water vaporization towards clean water and energy production

Gao, Minmin; Zhu, Liangliang; Peh, Connor Kang Nuo; Ho, Ghim Wei

doi:10.1039/c8ee01146j

Cited by 1,504 publications

(974 citation statements)

References 141 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

971

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The result shows that the calculated evaporation rate is found to increase linearly with the optical concentration, ensuring a continuous and robust evaporation platform (Figure g). The evaporation efficiency that is defined as η = mh / I sun can also be calculated, in which m denotes the mass flux, h is the total enthalpy of the liquid–liquid sensible heat from the initial temperature to the final temperature and liquid–vapor latent heat, and I sun is the total power of solar illumination . Through the adjustment of optical concentration, the efficiencies show prominent enhancement ranging from 80% to 84% (Figure h).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rationally Programmable Paper‐Based Artificial Trees Toward Multipath Solar‐Driven Water Extraction from Liquid/Solid Substrates

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Solar vaporization, which is emerged as a promising candidate for harvesting solar energy in sewage purification and/or seawater desalination, has attracted increasing interests during the last few years. Although tremendous advances are made, it is still challenging to realize simple fabrication protocols, low‐cost, and rationally editable 3D structures toward multipath water extraction from liquid/solid media. Inspired by natural plants with hierarchical structures rooted in soils, herein, an artificial tree of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) film/paper hybrid with tunable transpiration toward multipath water extraction under solar illumination is rationally designed. In this system, an interfacial‐assisted transfer strategy is developed to alternatively transfer the self‐assembled CNT films at the air/water interface onto one side of arbitrary substrates in a uniform/patterned way. The paper‐based photothermal absorbers with favorable tailorability and foldability allow the transformation of the 2D evaporators to tree‐like 3D ones. The achieved 3D evaporators with specific structures can extract purified water ranging from conventional liquid phase (e.g., water) to solid phase (e.g., sand), which can significantly extend the application of water extraction.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rationally Programmable Paper‐Based Artificial Trees Toward Multipath Solar‐Driven Water Extraction from Liquid/Solid Substrates

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…H v is determined by the vaporization temperature of the water/air interface (2453 kJ kg −1 at 20 °C and 2265 kJ kg −1 at 100 °C), and H s is dependent on the specific heat of water (c water = 4.186 kJ kg −1 °C −1 ) and its temperature change. Several previous reviews have briefly summarized the diverse solar absorber materials and device designs of steam generators, [13,23,[26][27][28][29]111] whereas we will mainly focus on the latest representative strategies for enhancing water evaporation efficiency in the following part. In aim to minimize heat losses and boost conversion efficiency, an insulating and hydrophilic porous supporter has been integrated into the floating system to avoid the direct contact between photothermal materials and bulk water, as shown in Figure 3a, which has been regarded as the next generation solar-driven water evaporation device.…”

Section: Development Trend Of Solar-driven Water Evaporatormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[23,[26][27][28][29] However, these previously published review articles are limited to the specific topic of solar steam generation, and thus there is still no comprehensive review focusing on the latest progress and future development trend of all the solardriven low-energy water purification/harvesting technologies. [23,[26][27][28][29] However, these previously published review articles are limited to the specific topic of solar steam generation, and thus there is still no comprehensive review focusing on the latest progress and future development trend of all the solardriven low-energy water purification/harvesting technologies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…Wide solar absorber materials, including carbon‐based materials, semiconductors and metals, have been reviewed by Gao et al Zhu et al highlighted the solar‐driven interfacial water evaporation for wider applications . Yang et al not only presented the environmental purification but also the fuel production based on the solar harvester .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar‐Inspired Water Purification Based on Emerging 2D Materials: Status and Challenges

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water shortage and the energy crisis are two major global challenges in this century. The solution for water crisis should be based on a sustainable energy source. Solar‐inspired water purification is an efficient and green technology for tackling the water challenge using abundant and clean solar energy through photothermal evaporation‐induced water production, photoinduced antimicrobial treatment, and photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants. 2D nanomaterials draw significant attention for their use these three water‐purification methods because of their large surface area, broadband and strong absorption in the solar spectral range, and efficient photothermal and photocatalytic transformation. Herein, the recent development of 2D nanomaterials applied in photothermal evaporation, photoinduced antimicrobial treatment, and photocatalytic capability is comprehensively overviewed. Various strategies in enhancing the light‐absorption and light‐conversion efficiency for different 2D nanomaterials are presented. The challenges and perspectives of these 2D nanomaterials are further discussed for practical water purification. This Review highlights these green energy–driven water‐purification methods based on emerging 2D materials.

show abstract

Solar absorber material and system designs for photothermal water vaporization towards clean water and energy production

Abstract: This comprehensive review provides a guide to design photothermal materials and systems for solar-driven water evaporation addressing the water–energy nexus.

Cited by 1,504 publications

References 141 publications

Rationally Programmable Paper‐Based Artificial Trees Toward Multipath Solar‐Driven Water Extraction from Liquid/Solid Substrates

Rationally Programmable Paper‐Based Artificial Trees Toward Multipath Solar‐Driven Water Extraction from Liquid/Solid Substrates

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

Solar‐Inspired Water Purification Based on Emerging 2D Materials: Status and Challenges

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About