Qi Dianpeng, Liu Yan, Liu Yuanbin, Liu Zhiyuan, Luo Yifei, Xu Hongbo, Zhou Xin, Zhang Jingjing, Yang Hui, Wang Wei, Chen Xiaodong
MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environments, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China.
Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Adv Mater. 2020 Dec;32(50):e2004401. doi: 10.1002/adma.202004401. Epub 2020 Nov 9.
Solar evaporation through a photothermal porous material provides a feasible and sustainable method for water remediation. Several photothermal materials have been developed to enhance solar evaporation efficiency. However, a critical limitation of current photothermal materials is their inability to separate water from the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in wastewater. Here, a microstructured ultrathin polymeric membrane that enables freshwater separation from VOC pollutants by solar evaporation with a VOC removal rate of 90%, is reported. The different solution-diffusion behaviors of water and VOCs with polymeric membranes facilitate their separation. Moreover, owing to increased light absorption, enlarged liquid-air interface, and shortened mass transfer distance, the microstructured and ultrathin configuration of the membrane helps to balance the tradeoff between permeation selectivity and water production capacity. The membrane is not only effective for evaporation of simulated volatile pollutants in a prototype, but can also intercept complex volatile organic contaminants in natural water sources and produce water that meets drinking-water standards. With practical demonstration and satisfactory purification performance, this work paves the way for practical application of solar evaporation for effective water remediation.
通过光热多孔材料进行太阳能蒸发为水修复提供了一种可行且可持续的方法。已经开发了几种光热材料来提高太阳能蒸发效率。然而，当前光热材料的一个关键限制是它们无法将水与废水中存在的挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）分离。在此，报道了一种微结构化超薄聚合物膜，该膜能够通过太阳能蒸发从VOC污染物中分离出淡水，VOC去除率达90%。水和VOCs在聚合物膜中的不同溶解-扩散行为促进了它们的分离。此外，由于光吸收增加、液-气界面增大以及传质距离缩短，该膜的微结构化和超薄结构有助于平衡渗透选择性和产水能力之间的权衡。该膜不仅对原型中模拟挥发性污染物的蒸发有效，还能拦截天然水源中的复杂挥发性有机污染物，并生产出符合饮用水标准的水。通过实际演示和令人满意的净化性能，这项工作为太阳能蒸发有效水修复的实际应用铺平了道路。
