He Mantang, Dai Hongyu, Liu Huijie, Cai Qirong, Liu Ye, Wang Liming, Qin Xiaohong, Yu Jianyong
Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Sep 1;13(34):40664-40672. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c11802. Epub 2021 Aug 19.
Due to the abundance and easy availability of solar energy resources, solar-driven water evaporation provides a sustainable way to obtain clean water from wastewater and seawater. However, achieving a high evaporation rate with excellent light absorption remains a critical challenge in the structural regulation of evaporators. Herein, inspired by the natural transpiration process in plants (blue spruce), we designed a three-dimensional (3D) cone-shaped solar steam generator based on vertical polypyrrole nanowires-coated fabric (VPPyNWs-fabric). The microstructure design of polypyrrole (PPy) increases the solar energy absorption of the incident light through multiple reflections between the VPPyNWs, while the macrostructure design of the 3D evaporator possesses an enlarged surface area for energy harvesting, wide path for water supply, and open structure for vapor diffusion. As a proof of concept, the as-obtained 3D VPPyNWs-fabric-based solar steam generator demonstrates a fast water evaporation rate of 2.32 kg m h with high solar absorption of 97% and solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency of 98.56% at 1 kW m energy density. In addition, the solar steam generator can be steadily applied in various water conditions, e.g., seawater, dye wastewater, and acidic and alkaline wastewater. This high-performance evaporator via 3D macro- and microstructure design offers a new avenue for better utilization of solar energy.
由于太阳能资源丰富且易于获取，太阳能驱动的水蒸发提供了一种从废水和海水中获取清洁水的可持续方法。然而，在蒸发器的结构调控中，实现具有优异光吸收的高蒸发速率仍然是一项关键挑战。在此，受植物（蓝云杉）自然蒸腾过程的启发，我们基于垂直聚吡咯纳米线包覆织物（VPPyNWs-织物）设计了一种三维（3D）锥形太阳能蒸汽发生器。聚吡咯（PPy）微结构设计通过VPPyNWs之间的多次反射增加了对入射光的太阳能吸收，而3D蒸发器的宏观结构设计具有扩大的能量收集表面积、宽阔的供水路径和开放的蒸汽扩散结构。作为概念验证，所制备的基于3D VPPyNWs-织物的太阳能蒸汽发生器在1 kW m能量密度下表现出2.32 kg m h的快速水蒸发速率、97%的高太阳能吸收率和98.56%的太阳能到蒸汽转换效率。此外，该太阳能蒸汽发生器可稳定应用于各种水质条件，如海水、染料废水以及酸性和碱性废水。这种通过3D宏观和微观结构设计的高性能蒸发器为更好地利用太阳能提供了一条新途径。
