Huang Libei, Ling Li, Su Jianjun, Song Yun, Wang Zhaoyu, Tang Ben Zhong, Westerhoff Paul, Ye Ruquan
Department of Chemistry, State Key Lab of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Nov 18;12(46):51864-51872. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c16596. Epub 2020 Nov 9.
Advances in solar steam generation have made a promise in mitigating the water scarcity problem. However, their practical use could be curtailed by the vaporized pollutants and the longevity limited by biofouling and salt-fouling that are often overlooked. Here, a flake of wood is reported to be engineered into a miniaturized solar water treatment device by a laser engraving process and demonstrates advantages over common solar systems. The device is structured to mimic the centralized water treatment plants, which contains a superhydrophilic graphene bottom layer for lipophilic organic matter rejection and antifouling, an intrinsic wood microchannels layer for water transport and thermal management, and a hydrophobic graphene top layer for solar-driven desalination while inhibiting salt deposition. The pore size of wood differentiates the water flux and hence the evaporation performance, and the balsa wood with a larger pore size possesses a higher evaporation rate of 1.6 ± 0.02 kg m h compared with pine wood. The hierarchical design achieves a solar energy conversion efficiency of 110% and a lipophilic organic matter removal efficiency of >90% and significantly improves longevity even at high salinity. This work illuminates a sustainable and cost-effective pathway for water treatment and shows potential for wastewater reuse.
太阳能蒸汽发生技术的进步为缓解水资源短缺问题带来了希望。然而，其实际应用可能会受到汽化污染物以及常被忽视的生物污垢和盐污垢导致的寿命限制的影响。在此，据报道，通过激光雕刻工艺将一片木材加工成了一种小型太阳能水处理装置，该装置展现出优于普通太阳能系统的优势。该装置的结构模仿了集中式水处理厂，它包含一个用于排斥亲脂性有机物和防污的超亲水性石墨烯底层、一个用于水传输和热管理的天然木材微通道层，以及一个用于太阳能驱动脱盐同时抑制盐分沉积的疏水性石墨烯顶层。木材的孔径决定了水通量，进而影响蒸发性能，与松木相比，孔径较大的轻木具有更高的蒸发速率，为1.6±0.02 kg m⁻² h⁻¹。这种分级设计实现了110%的太阳能转换效率和>90%的亲脂性有机物去除效率，即使在高盐度下也能显著提高使用寿命。这项工作为水处理开辟了一条可持续且经济高效的途径，并显示出废水再利用的潜力。
