Zhang Yidong, Deng Wangfang, Wu Meiyan, Liu Zhexuan, Yu Guang, Cui Qiu, Liu Chao, Fatehi Pedram, Li Bin
CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao266101, China.
Laboratory of Natural Materials Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Henrikinkatu 2, TurkuFI-20500, Finland.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Feb 8;15(5):7414-7426. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c21260. Epub 2023 Jan 24.
Recently, a solar-driven evaporator has been applied in seawater desalination, but the low stability, high cost, and complex fabrication limit its further application. Herein, we report a novel, low-cost, scalable, and easily fabricated pulp-natural rubber (PNR) foam with a unique porous structure, which was directly used as a solar-driven evaporator after facile surface carbonization. This surface carbonized PNR (CPNR) foam without interface adhesion or modification was composed of a top photothermal layer with light absorption ability and a bottom hydrophilic foam layer with a porous and interconnected network structure. Due to the strong light absorption ability (93.2%) of the carbonized top layer, together with the low thermal conductivity (0.1 W m K) and good water adsorption performance (9.9 g g) of the bottom layer, the evaporation rate and evaporation efficiency of the pulp foam evaporator under 1 sun of illumination attained 1.62 kg m h and 98.09%, respectively, which were much higher than those of most cellulose-based solar-driven evaporators. Furthermore, the CPNR foam evaporator with high cost-effectiveness presented high light-thermal conversion, heat localization, and good salt rejection properties due to the unique porous structure. Additionally, the CPNR foam evaporator exhibited potential applications in the treatments of simulated sewage, metal ion concentration, and seawater desalination. Its cost-effectiveness was clearly higher than that of most reported evaporators as well. Therefore, this novel, low-cost, and stable pulp foam evaporator demonstrated here can be a very promising solution for water desalination and purification.
最近，一种太阳能驱动蒸发器已应用于海水淡化，但稳定性低、成本高和制造复杂限制了其进一步应用。在此，我们报道了一种新型、低成本、可扩展且易于制造的具有独特多孔结构的纸浆-天然橡胶（PNR）泡沫，在进行简便的表面碳化后，它被直接用作太阳能驱动蒸发器。这种无需界面粘附或改性的表面碳化PNR（CPNR）泡沫由具有光吸收能力的顶部光热层和具有多孔且相互连接网络结构的底部亲水性泡沫层组成。由于碳化顶层具有很强的光吸收能力（93.2%），再加上底层的低热导率（0.1 W m K）和良好的吸水性能（9.9 g g），纸浆泡沫蒸发器在1个太阳光照下的蒸发速率和蒸发效率分别达到1.62 kg m h和98.09%，远高于大多数基于纤维素的太阳能驱动蒸发器。此外，具有高性价比的CPNR泡沫蒸发器由于其独特的多孔结构而呈现出高光热转换、热局域化和良好的拒盐性能。另外，CPNR泡沫蒸发器在模拟污水、金属离子浓缩和海水淡化处理中展现出潜在应用。其性价比也明显高于大多数已报道的蒸发器。因此，这里展示的这种新型、低成本且稳定的纸浆泡沫蒸发器对于水的淡化和净化可能是一个非常有前景的解决方案。
