College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610065, P. R. China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Nov;9(33):e2204187. doi: 10.1002/advs.202204187. Epub 2022 Oct 10.
Solar interfacial vapor generation based on low evaporation energy requirements is an effective technology to speed up water purification under natural sunlight, offering great potential to alleviate the current global water crisis. The external electric field and hydrogel are two independent methods enabling low-energy water evaporation. However, the complicated external equipment for generating an electric field and the restricted activation area of hydrogels significantly limit their practical application in steam generation. Thus, a piezoelectric fiber membrane is embedded into a highly hydratable light-absorbing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel for synergistic water activation. The integrated evaporator is capable of continuously converting the wave energy reserved in the ocean into electrical energy, activating the water in the hydrogel. It is found that the activation effect leads to an improvement of over 23% compared to a non-piezoelectric hydrogel evaporator. This work provides an evaporation prototype based on the synergistic water activation of wave-triggered electricity and highly hydratable hydrogel.
基于低蒸发能量需求的太阳能界面蒸汽发生是一种在自然光下加速水净化的有效技术，为缓解当前的全球水危机提供了巨大的潜力。外电场和水凝胶是两种独立的低能量水蒸发方法。然而，产生电场的复杂外部设备和水凝胶的受限激活面积极大地限制了它们在蒸汽发生中的实际应用。因此，将压电纤维膜嵌入高亲水性吸光性聚乙烯醇（PVA）水凝胶中以协同水激活。集成蒸发器能够将海洋中储存的波能连续转化为电能，激活水凝胶中的水。结果发现，与非压电水凝胶蒸发器相比，这种激活效果导致水蒸发提高了 23%以上。这项工作提供了一种基于波浪触发电和高亲水性水凝胶协同水激活的蒸发原型。
