Li Shuying, Qiu Feng, Xia Yuguo, Chen Dairong, Jiao Xiuling
National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 May 4;14(17):19409-19418. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c01359. Epub 2022 Apr 21.
Solar-driven photothermal interfacial evaporation is considered as one of the most promising strategies in seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. In desalination, evaporation efficiency and salt resistance are regarded as two inter-constraint measures. Thus, it is still challenging to fabricate solar evaporators with both high evaporation efficiency and excellent salt resistance. In the present work, a self-floating Janus sponge composed of hydrophobic carbon black (CB) coating and hydrophilic porous thermoplastic polyurethane-carbon nanotube (TPC) nanofibrous substrate (TPC@CB) is fabricated via a simple electrospinning and gas templating expansion method. Attributing to the unique trilaminar functional architecture: the upper superhydrophobic solar-absorption coating, the intermediate ultrathin heat localization layer, and the lower cellular thermal insulation layer, the Janus TPC@CB sponge exhibits high evaporation efficiency (1.80 kg m h with an energy efficiency of 97.2% under 1.0 solar irradiation) and outstanding salt resistance ability. Moreover, zero liquid discharge in salt-containing wastewater treatment is realized using the Janus TPC@CB sponge as a solar-driven photothermal medium. This work provides a promising approach to seawater desalination and wastewater treatment.
太阳能驱动的光热界面蒸发被认为是海水淡化和废水处理中最具前景的策略之一。在海水淡化中，蒸发效率和耐盐性被视为两个相互制约的指标。因此，制备兼具高蒸发效率和优异耐盐性的太阳能蒸发器仍然具有挑战性。在本工作中，通过一种简单的静电纺丝和气模板膨胀法制备了一种由疏水炭黑（CB）涂层和亲水多孔热塑性聚氨酯-碳纳米管（TPC）纳米纤维基底（TPC@CB）组成的自漂浮双面海绵。由于其独特的三层功能结构：上层超疏水太阳能吸收涂层、中间超薄热定位层和下层蜂窝状隔热层，双面TPC@CB海绵表现出高蒸发效率（在1.0个太阳辐照下蒸发速率为1.80 kg m⁻² h⁻¹，能量效率为97.7%）和出色的耐盐能力。此外，使用双面TPC@CB海绵作为太阳能驱动的光热介质，在含盐废水处理中实现了零液体排放。这项工作为海水淡化和废水处理提供了一种有前景的方法。
