Yu Zhen, Su Yuqing, Gu Ruonan, Wu Wei, Li Yangxi, Cheng Shaoan
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China.
Nanomicro Lett. 2023 Sep 22;15(1):214. doi: 10.1007/s40820-023-01191-6.
Interfacial solar evaporation holds great promise to address the freshwater shortage. However, most interfacial solar evaporators are always filled with water throughout the evaporation process, thus bringing unavoidable heat loss. Herein, we propose a novel interfacial evaporation structure based on the micro-nano water film, which demonstrates significantly improved evaporation performance, as experimentally verified by polypyrrole- and polydopamine-coated polydimethylsiloxane sponge. The 2D evaporator based on the as-prepared sponge realizes an enhanced evaporation rate of 2.18 kg m h under 1 sun by fine-tuning the interfacial micro-nano water film. Then, a homemade device with an enhanced condensation function is engineered for outdoor clean water production. Throughout a continuous test for 40 days, this device demonstrates a high water production rate (WPR) of 15.9-19.4 kg kW h m. Based on the outdoor outcomes, we further establish a multi-objective model to assess the global WPR. It is predicted that a 1 m device can produce at most 7.8 kg of clean water per day, which could meet the daily drinking water needs of 3 people. Finally, this technology could greatly alleviate the current water and energy crisis through further large-scale applications.
界面太阳能蒸发在解决淡水短缺问题方面具有巨大潜力。然而，大多数界面太阳能蒸发器在整个蒸发过程中始终充满水，从而带来不可避免的热损失。在此，我们提出了一种基于微纳米水膜的新型界面蒸发结构，经聚吡咯和聚多巴胺包覆的聚二甲基硅氧烷海绵实验验证，其蒸发性能有显著提升。基于所制备海绵的二维蒸发器通过微调界面微纳米水膜，在1个太阳光照强度下实现了2.18 kg m⁻² h⁻¹的增强蒸发速率。然后，设计了一种具有增强冷凝功能的自制装置用于户外清洁水生产。在为期40天的连续测试中，该装置展现出15.9 - 19.4 kg kW⁻¹ h⁻¹ m⁻²的高产水率（WPR）。基于户外测试结果，我们进一步建立了一个多目标模型来评估全球产水率。预计一个1 m²的装置每天最多可生产7.8 kg清洁水，能够满足3人的日常饮用水需求。最后，通过进一步大规模应用，这项技术能够极大地缓解当前的水和能源危机。
