School of Environmental and Material Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264405, China.
Shandong Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology, School of Physics Science and Information Technology, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Jun 14;15(23):27952-27962. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c02867. Epub 2023 May 31.
Solar-powered water purification is one of the promising choices for clean water production. However, it remains challenging to develop aerogel solar evaporators that simultaneously possess enhanced light-to-heat conversion, optimal thermal management, and salt crystal deposition inhibition. Herein, to address this challenge, we have developed a 3D chitosan-reduced graphene oxide/polypyrrole (CS-RGO/PPy) aerogel vaporizer with a vertical and radially aligned structure through a directional freezing process, inspired by the featured structure of conifers. The radially porous walls and vertically arranged channels within the 3D aerogel were able to facilitate high light absorption, localizing converted heat, rapid water transport, and self-salt discharge. Under 1 sun irradiation, the aerogel vaporizer displayed an improved light absorption characteristic of 95% and a high-rate evaporation (∼3.19 kg m h) that achieved continuous freshwater from the saturated brine production without solid salt crystallization. Besides achieving seawater desalination, the obtained aerogel could purify organic wastewater and emulsions through solar distillation with high-rate continuous water production.
太阳能水净化是生产清洁水的一种很有前途的选择。然而，开发同时具有增强的光热转换、最佳的热管理和抑制盐晶体沉积的气凝胶太阳能蒸发器仍然具有挑战性。在本文中，我们通过定向冷冻工艺，受针叶树特征结构的启发，开发了一种具有垂直和径向排列结构的 3D 壳聚糖还原氧化石墨烯/聚吡咯（CS-RGO/PPy）气凝胶蒸发器。3D 气凝胶中的径向多孔壁和垂直排列的通道有助于提高光吸收、定位转化热、快速水传输和自盐排放。在 1 个太阳照射下，气凝胶蒸发器显示出 95%的改进光吸收特性和高蒸发速率（~3.19kg m h），可实现连续从饱和盐水生产淡水，而无固体盐结晶。除了实现海水淡化外，所获得的气凝胶还可以通过太阳能蒸馏净化有机废水和乳液，实现高速率连续产水。
