Yan Jun, Cui Tao, Su Qin, Wu Haidi, Xiao Wei, Ye Liping, Hou Suyang, Xue Huaiguo, Shi Yongqian, Tang Longcheng, Song Pingan, Gao Jiefeng
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, P. R. China.
College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, P. R. China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Nov;11(41):e2407295. doi: 10.1002/advs.202407295. Epub 2024 Sep 5.
Recently, solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) has been developed quickly for low-cost and sustainable seawater desalination, but addressing the conflict between a high evaporation rate and salt rejection during SDIE is still challenging. Here, a spatial confinement strategy is proposed to prepare the gel composite solar evaporator (SCE) by loading one thin hydrogel layer onto the skeleton of a carbon aerogel. The SCE retains the hierarchically porous structure of carbon aerogels with an optimized water supply induced by dual-driven forces (capillary effects and osmotic pressure) and takes advantage of both aerogels and hydrogels, which can gain energy from air and reduce water enthalpy. The SCE has a high evaporation rate (up to 4.23 kg m h under one sun) and excellent salt rejection performance and can maintain structural integrity after long-term evaporation even at high salinities. The SDIE behavior, including heat distribution, water transport, and salt ion distribution, is investigated by combining theoretical simulations and experimental results. This work provides new inspiration and a theoretical basis for the development of high-performance interfacial evaporators.
近年来，太阳能驱动界面蒸发（SDIE）技术发展迅速，可用于低成本、可持续的海水淡化，但在SDIE过程中解决高蒸发速率与拒盐之间的矛盾仍然具有挑战性。在此，我们提出一种空间限制策略，通过在碳气凝胶骨架上负载一层薄水凝胶层来制备凝胶复合太阳能蒸发器（SCE）。SCE保留了碳气凝胶的分级多孔结构，由双驱动力（毛细效应和渗透压）诱导实现优化的供水，并利用了气凝胶和水凝胶的优势，既能从空气中获取能量又能降低水的焓值。SCE具有高蒸发速率（在一个太阳光照下可达4.23 kg m⁻² h⁻¹）和优异的拒盐性能，即使在高盐度下长期蒸发后仍能保持结构完整性。通过结合理论模拟和实验结果，研究了SDIE行为，包括热分布、水传输和盐离子分布。这项工作为高性能界面蒸发器的开发提供了新的灵感和理论基础。
