Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Nov 15;626:231-240. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.145. Epub 2022 Jun 27.
Solar evaporation which ultilizes the sustainable solar energy for freshwater production from waste or saline water is one of the most attractive technologies to simultaneously address energy and freshwater crisis. Nevertheless, high energy consumption of water-vapor transformation greatly restricts the practical applications of solar-driven water purification. Herein, we report hybrid hydrogels formed by introducing biomass, starch, and carbon nanotube into hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol in a cost-effective route, used as multifunctional evaporators. The interpenetrating network has good hydrophilicity, fast water transport and adjustable state of water molecules, which reduces the enthalpy of water vaporization to promote the evaporation process. Thus, the obtained hydrogel evaporator possesses an evaporation rate of 2.44 kg mh with 95% efficiency under one-sun, and is capable of producing clean water from various types of wastewater, including salty, acidic, alkaline and organic polluted water, with long-term durability and stability. It also presents excellent antibacterial, salt resistance and self-cleaning capabilities, suitable for practical applications. More notably, with abundant OH groups from starch, the hybrid hydrogel can effectively adsorb heavy metal ions and organic dyes via formation of chelating and hydrogen bonds. Therefore, this work provides a new approach for portable and cost-effective solar-driven wastewater purification.
太阳能蒸发利用可持续的太阳能从废水或盐水生产淡水，是同时解决能源和淡水危机的最有吸引力的技术之一。然而，水蒸气转化的高能耗极大地限制了太阳能驱动水净化的实际应用。在此，我们通过在经济有效的路线中引入生物质、淀粉和碳纳米管到亲水性聚乙烯醇中，报告了混合水凝胶的形成，用作多功能蒸发器。互穿网络具有良好的亲水性、快速的水传输和水分子的可调状态，从而降低了水蒸发的焓以促进蒸发过程。因此，所获得的水凝胶蒸发器在单阳光下具有 2.44kgmh 的蒸发率和 95%的效率，并且能够从各种类型的废水（包括咸水、酸性、碱性和有机污染水）中生产清洁水，具有长期的耐用性和稳定性。它还具有出色的抗菌、耐盐和自清洁能力，适用于实际应用。更值得注意的是，由于淀粉中的丰富 OH 基团，混合水凝胶可以通过形成螯合和氢键有效吸附重金属离子和有机染料。因此，这项工作为便携式和具有成本效益的太阳能驱动废水净化提供了一种新方法。
