Wang Yifei, Shang Yaxin, Sun Xuedi, Yang Qing, Zhang Yifeng
National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Key Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, P. R. China.
Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Aug 30;15(34):40595-40605. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c08201. Epub 2023 Aug 15.
Solar-powered water generation is an appealing strategy for cost-effective and energy-sustainable seawater purification/desalination, where rational material selection and device design is crucial. Nevertheless, prevailing carbon-based photothermal materials in such systems still suffer from mediocre steam-to-water efficiency, failing to satisfy an adequate freshwater supply. Herein, we demonstrate a biomimetic corrugated evaporator (CE) affording carbon nanotube (CNT) encapsulated Fe nanocluster-decoration in the pursuit of high-efficiency seawater purification. The thus-customized CE demonstrates a maximum evaporation rate of 4.2 kg m h with a refraction angle of 60° and a water-lifting height of 5.5 cm, outperforming most state-of-the-art carbon-based counterparts. By employing a tailored architectural design and optimized condensing volume, the steam-to-water efficiency increases from 65.8 to 88.2% as the volume enlarges from 0.8 to 5.3 L, further harvesting a peak value of 91% under negative pressure. Light intensity simulation and experimental mechanistic investigation disclose the dual property-performance relationships between evaporator microstructure and evaporation rate, as well as between condensing device volume and steam-to-water efficiency. The universality of the theoretical guidance of this work will offer insight into the development of solar-driven evaporator construction toward simultaneous seawater desalination and clean water generation.
太阳能驱动的水生成是一种具有成本效益且能源可持续的海水净化/脱盐的诱人策略，其中合理的材料选择和设备设计至关重要。然而，此类系统中现有的碳基光热材料的蒸汽转化为水的效率仍然一般，无法满足充足的淡水供应。在此，我们展示了一种仿生波纹蒸发器（CE），其在追求高效海水净化方面具有碳纳米管（CNT）封装的铁纳米簇装饰。如此定制的CE在折射角为60°且提水高度为5.5厘米的情况下，展现出4.2千克·平方米·小时的最大蒸发速率，优于大多数最先进的碳基同类产品。通过采用定制的结构设计和优化的冷凝体积，随着体积从0.8升增大到5.3升，蒸汽转化为水的效率从65.8%提高到88.2%，在负压下进一步收获了91%的峰值。光强模拟和实验机理研究揭示了蒸发器微观结构与蒸发速率之间以及冷凝装置体积与蒸汽转化为水的效率之间的双重性能关系。这项工作的理论指导的普遍性将为太阳能驱动的蒸发器构建的发展提供见解，以实现同时进行海水淡化和清洁水生成。
