Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand; Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry (PERCH-CIC), Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Science and Technology Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand; Center of Excellence in Materials Science and Technology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Jul 31;244:125390. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125390. Epub 2023 Jun 16.
With the increasing water consumption, water evaporators have been investigated for clean water production. Herein, the fabrication of electrospun composite membrane evaporators based on ethyl cellulose (EC), with the incorporation of light-absorption enhancers 2D MoS and helical carbon nanotubes, for steam generation and solar desalination is described. Under natural sunlight, the maximum water evaporation rate was 2.02 kg m h with an evaporation efficiency of 93.2 % (1 sun) and reached 2.42 kg m h at 12:00 pm (1.35 sun). The composite membranes demonstrated self-floating on the air-water interface and minimal accumulation of superficial salt during the desalination process due to the hydrophobic character of EC. For concentrated saline water (21 wt% NaCl), the composite membranes maintained a relatively high evaporation rate of up to 79 % compared to the freshwater evaporation rate. The composite membranes are robust due to the thermomechanical stability of the polymer even while operating under steam-generating conditions. Over repeated use, they exhibited excellent reusability with a relative water mass change of >90 % compared to the first evaporation cycle. Moreover, desalination of artificial seawater produced a lower cation concentration (3-5 orders of magnitude) and thereby yielded potable water, indicating the potential for solar-driven freshwater generation.
随着用水量的增加，人们已经研究了水蒸发器来生产清洁水。本文描述了基于乙基纤维素（EC）的电纺复合膜蒸发器的制造，其中掺入了光吸收增强剂 2D MoS 和螺旋碳纳米管，用于蒸汽发生和太阳能淡化。在自然光下，最大水蒸发速率为 2.02 kg m h，蒸发效率为 93.2%（1 个太阳），中午 12 点时达到 2.42 kg m h（1.35 个太阳）。由于 EC 的疏水性，复合膜在空气-水界面上自浮，并且在淡化过程中表面盐的积累最小。对于浓缩盐水（21wt%NaCl），与淡水蒸发速率相比，复合膜保持相对较高的蒸发速率，高达约 79%。由于聚合物的热机械稳定性，复合膜即使在蒸汽发生条件下也很坚固。在重复使用过程中，它们表现出出色的可重复使用性，与第一个蒸发循环相比，相对水质量变化>90%。此外，人工海水的淡化产生了更低的阳离子浓度（~3-5 个数量级），从而产生了可饮用水，表明了太阳能驱动淡水生成的潜力。
