Tailoring Graphene Oxide‐Based Aerogels for Efficient Solar Steam Generation under One Sun

Hu, Xiaozhen; Xu, Weichao; Lin, Zhifang; Tan, Yingling; Wang, Yang; Zhu, Shining; Zhu, Jing

doi:10.1002/adma.201604031

Cited by 768 publications

(555 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Figure 5a shows comparative polarization plots for CM/TiO 2−x /CP that are obtained in simulated one sun irradiation. [54][55][56] Incremental performance enhancements are reflected by the OER and HER polarization curves ( Figure S24 31,1903605 and gradually reduced impedances ( Figure S25, Supporting Information) which closely follow the gradient of luminous intensity, which further proves the photothermal effect. These results collectively, suggest the ability of the designed photo-electrocatalytic electrode to absorb broad solar spectrum to generate solar heating or to induce photothermal effect to promote the electrocatalytic process.…”

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confidence: 80%

“…[29][30][31][32][33] Consequently, the highly promising photothermal effect was not duly exploited to unleash a maximum impact on the electrocatalytic performance. This will inevitably cause considerable heat losses to bulk electrolyte by rapid thermal diffusion, hence leading to poor photothermal utilization.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The CM/TiO 2−x /CP exhibits extremely low light reflectance (≈3-5%) in full solar spectrum regions in comparison with MO/TiO 2 /CP, TiO 2 /CP, and CP, rendering it a promising solar absorbing material ( Figure 2d). 2019, 31,1903605 www.advmat.de www.advancedsciencenews.com which are attributed to the covering N-CNTs, reduced chemical state from TiO 2 to TiO, and hierarchical nanoarray structure for multiple reflections of the incident light. As shown in Figure 2e,f, under simulated one sun irradiation (100 mW cm −2 ), the temperature of the CM/TiO 2−x /CP rapidly rises from 22 to 87.8 °C in 10 min, while TiO 2−x /CP and CM/CP attain slightly lower temperatures of 83.1 and 84.3 °C.…”

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confidence: 99%

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A Hybrid Solar Absorber–Electrocatalytic N‐Doped Carbon/Alloy/Semiconductor Electrode for Localized Photothermic Electrocatalysis

et al. 2019

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and transportable renewable hydrogen fuel and valuable chemical feedstock. In view of this notion, photochemical, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaic-driven electrochemical catalytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution are extensively studied. [6][7][8][9][10] Though photocatalysis involves direct conversion, it suffers from low solar energy absorption and conversion efficiency, the use of sacrificial agents, slow reaction rate, and instability. [11][12][13][14] To overcome these obstacles, photoelectrochemical strategy is explored as it holds the promise of a more efficient means. [14] Even that, it is hampered by the adversaries of semiconductor catalysts selection, photoelectrode preparation, limited spectral absorption, unsatisfactory reactivity and solar conversion efficiency. [13] Then, a roundabout way of photovoltaic-driven electrochemical water splitting via alkaline water electrolyzers was considered. [10,15] The technology can achieve a solar conversion efficiency over 15%, which is highly competitive, let alone the benefits of program controllability, sustainable productivity, and system upgradability with cheaper and more efficient photovoltaic cells. [15,16] Still, further efficiency improvement can be expected since the overall efficiency of electrochemical splitting of water is hindered by the inherent thermodynamics and sluggish kinetics, including high overpotential, low current density, and moderate energetic efficiency. [17][18][19][20][21][22] Despite immense efforts in designing various composition and structure to optimize the intrinsic activity of catalysts, the progress remains insufficient.Recently, supplementing thermal energy to perform catalytic conversion and vaporize water to surpass the conventional performances is attracting more attention. [23][24][25][26][27][28] Rationally, capitalizing the full potential of solar energy, beyond the limitation of UV light excitation, that are not absorbed by photo catalyst or photovoltaic cells for water splitting will undoubtedly augment the efficiency to further accelerate technological deployment. Hence the introduction of photothermal energy to electrochemical reaction can be a feasible pathway to facilitate enhanced solar energy conversion to chemical fuels. However, the biggest challenge lies in the discordant solar absorber electrode and electrolytic cell design. Typically, the catalyst is constructed in a form of film electrode, infiltrated Converting and storing intermittent solar energy into stable chemical fuels of high efficiency depend crucially on harvesting excess energy beyond the conventional ultraviolet light spectrum. The means of applying highly efficient solar-thermal conversion on practical electricity-driven water splitting could be a significant stride toward this goal, while some bottlenecks remain unresolved. Herein, photothermic electrocatalytic oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions are proposed, which bestow a distinctive exothermic activation and electrochemical reactivity in a reconstructed electrolyzer system, and ...

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confidence: 80%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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A Hybrid Solar Absorber–Electrocatalytic N‐Doped Carbon/Alloy/Semiconductor Electrode for Localized Photothermic Electrocatalysis

et al. 2019

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“…In this special structure, the bottom carbon foam is thermally insulating to reduce heat losses to the underlying bulk water, and the top exfoliated graphite layer acts as the solar absorber. [64] Apart from above-mentioned two-layer structure, diverse 3D bulk solar absorbers with low thermal conductivity and moderate thickness can also act as the photothermal convertor, as well as prevent heat losses to the bulk water, such as synthetic polymer foam (0.057 W m −1 K −1 ), [124] GO aerogel (0.047-0.035 W m −1 K −1 ), [63] silica/Au gel, [44] and polymer hydrogel. [110] Since then, the introduction of the insulating porous supporters has been considered as the most effective method to reduce heat losses and realize thermal management.…”

Section: Strategies For Enhancing Water Evaporation Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

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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.

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“…With small increases in hydrophilic functional groups, the overall solar-to-vapor efficiency is improved from 38% to 48% under 1 sun irradiance. The surface functionalization of graphene became popular to improve the hydrophilicity of 3D structures for steam generation experiments [101]. Guo et al [102] [96].…”

Section: Carbon/graphene Based Floating Solar Receivermentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Receiver-Enhanced Solar Vapor Generation: Review and Perspectives

Raza

Alzaim

et al. 2018

Energies

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Efficient solar vapor/steam generation is important for various applications ranging from power generation, cooling, desalination systems to compact and portable devices like drinking water purification and sterilization units. However, conventional solar steam generation techniques usually rely on costly and cumbersome optical concentration systems and have relatively low efficiency due to bulk heating of the entire liquid volume. Recently, by incorporating novel light harvesting receivers, a new class of solar steam generation systems has emerged with high vapor generation efficiency. They are categorized in two research streams: volumetric and floating solar receivers. In this paper, we review the basic principles of these solar receivers, the mechanism involving from light absorption to the vapor generation, and the associated challenges. We also highlight the two routes to produce high temperature steam using optical and thermal concentration. Finally, we propose a scalable approach to efficiently harvest solar energy using a semi-spectrally selective absorber with near-perfect visible light absorption and low thermal emittance. Our proposed approach represents a new development in thermally concentrated solar distillation systems, which is also cost-effective and easy to fabricate for rapid industrial deployment.

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Tailoring Graphene Oxide‐Based Aerogels for Efficient Solar Steam Generation under One Sun

Cited by 768 publications

References 46 publications

A Hybrid Solar Absorber–Electrocatalytic N‐Doped Carbon/Alloy/Semiconductor Electrode for Localized Photothermic Electrocatalysis

A Hybrid Solar Absorber–Electrocatalytic N‐Doped Carbon/Alloy/Semiconductor Electrode for Localized Photothermic Electrocatalysis

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

Novel Receiver-Enhanced Solar Vapor Generation: Review and Perspectives

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