State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (HUST) of Ministry of Education, and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 13;14(14):16546-16557. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c02464. Epub 2022 Apr 1.
Solar steam generation provides a promising and low-cost solution for freshwater production in energy scarcity areas. However, in real-world applications, evaporators are easily affected by microorganism contamination in source water, causing surface corrosion, structural damage, or even invalidation. Developing anti-biofouling and antibacterial evaporators is significant for long-term stable freshwater production. Herein, a composite polyelectrolyte photothermal hydrogel consisting of sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride (METAC), and polypyrrole (PPy) with anti-biofouling and antibacterial properties is developed. Crediting sufficient ammonium groups and zwitterionic segments, the optimized polyelectrolyte hydrogel exhibits an ∼90% antibacterial ratio against () and () and effectively controls biological contamination. Under 1.0 kW m solar irradiation, a rapid water evaporation rate of ∼1.690 kg m h and a high solar-to-evaporation efficiency of ∼95.94% are achieved with the photothermal hydrogel. We show that a lab-made setup integrated with the hydrogel can realize ∼0.455 kg m h freshwater production from seawater under natural sunlight. Moreover, the hydrogel exhibits excellent durability with a stable evaporation rate of ∼1.617 kg m h in real seawater for over 6 weeks, making it fullhearted in the real-world application of solar steam generation.
太阳能蒸汽发电为能源匮乏地区提供了一种有前途且低成本的淡水生产解决方案。然而，在实际应用中，蒸发器很容易受到原水中微生物的污染，导致表面腐蚀、结构损坏，甚至失效。开发抗生物污染和抗菌蒸发器对于长期稳定的淡水生产至关重要。在此，开发了一种具有抗生物污染和抗菌性能的复合聚电解质光热水凝胶，由磺酸甜菜碱甲基丙烯酸酯 (SBMA)、[2-(甲基丙烯酰氧)乙基]三甲基氯化铵 (METAC) 和聚吡咯 (PPy) 组成。得益于充足的铵基团和两性离子段，优化后的聚电解质水凝胶对金黄色葡萄球菌（）和大肠杆菌（）表现出约 90%的抗菌率，并能有效控制生物污染。在 1.0 kW m 的太阳辐照下，光热水凝胶的水蒸发速率高达约 1.690 kg m h，太阳能到蒸发的效率高达 95.94%。我们表明，集成有水凝胶的实验室制造装置可以在自然光下从海水中实现约 0.455 kg m h 的淡水生产。此外，水凝胶在真实海水中具有出色的耐用性，稳定的蒸发速率约为 1.617 kg m h，持续超过 6 周，使其完全适用于太阳能蒸汽发电的实际应用。
