Liu Xinghang, Chen Feixiang, Li Yuankai, Jiang Hanjin, Mishra Debesh Devadutta, Yu Fang, Chen Zihe, Hu Chaoquan, Chen Yun, Qu Liangti, Zheng Weitao
State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials of MOE, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immune Related Disease, TaiKang Medical School (School of Basic Medicine Sciences), Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2022 Sep;34(36):e2203137. doi: 10.1002/adma.202203137. Epub 2022 Aug 7.
Delivering sufficient water to the evaporation surface/interface is one of the most widely adopted strategies to overcome salt accumulation in solar-driven interfacial desalination. However, water transport and heat conduction loss are positively correlated, resulting in the trade-off between thermal localization and salt resistance. Herein, a 3D hydrogel evaporator with vertical radiant vessels is prepared to surmount the long-standing trade-off, thereby achieving high-rate and stable solar desalination of high-salinity. Experiments and numerical simulations reveal that the unique hierarchical structure, which consists of a large vertical vessel channel, radiant vessels, and porous vessel walls, facilitates strong self-salt-discharge and low longitudinal thermal conductivity. With the structure employed, a groundbreaking comprehensive performance, under one sun illumination, of evaporation rate as high as 3.53 kg m h , salinity of 20 wt%, and a continuous 8 h evaporation is achieved, which thought to be the best reported result from a salt-free system. This work showcases the preparation method of a novel hierarchical microstructure, and also provides pivotal insights into the design of next-generation solar evaporators of high-efficiency and salt tolerance.
向蒸发表面/界面输送足够的水是克服太阳能驱动界面脱盐中盐分积累的最广泛采用的策略之一。然而，水传输和热传导损失呈正相关，导致热局域化和耐盐性之间的权衡。在此，制备了一种具有垂直辐射容器的三维水凝胶蒸发器，以克服长期存在的权衡问题，从而实现高盐度水的高速稳定太阳能脱盐。实验和数值模拟表明，独特的分级结构由大型垂直容器通道、辐射容器和多孔容器壁组成，有助于实现强大的自排盐能力和较低的纵向热导率。采用这种结构，在一个太阳光照下实现了高达3.53 kg m² h⁻¹ 的蒸发速率、20 wt% 的盐度和连续8小时蒸发的突破性综合性能，这被认为是无盐体系中报道的最佳结果。这项工作展示了一种新型分级微观结构的制备方法，也为下一代高效耐盐太阳能蒸发器的设计提供了关键见解。
