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Multishelled CuO/Cu2O induced fast photo-vapour generation for drinking water

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Abstract

Solar thermal interfacial water evaporation is proposed as a promising route to address freshwater scarcity, which can reduce energy consumption and have unlimited application scenarios. The large semiconductor family with controllable bandgap and good chemo-physical stability are considered as good candidates for photo-evaporation. However, the evaporation rate is not satisfactory because the rational control of nano/micro structure and composition is still in its infancy stage. Herein, by systemically analyzing the photo-thermal evaporation processes, we applied the hollow multishelled structure (HoMS) into this application. Benefiting from the multishelled and hierarchical porous structure, the light absorption, thermal regulation, and water transport are simultaneously optimized, resulting in a water evaporation rate of 3.2 kg·m−2·h−1, which is among the best performance in solar-vapour generation. The collected water from different water resources meets the World Health Organization standard for drinkable water. Interestingly, by using the CuO/Cu2O system, reactive oxygen species were generated for water disinfection, showing a new route for efficient solar-vapour generation and a green way to obtain safe drinking water.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 92163209, 21931012, 21971244, 51872024, and 51932001), and Talent Team of Taishan Scholar’s Advantageous and Characteristic Disciplines of Shandong Province. Prof. Lin thanks the Taishan Scholarship Project of Shandong Province (No. tsqn201909115). The authors also thank the BL1W2A in BSRF, BL14W1, BL11B in SSRF for synchrotron radiation measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Chemistry, School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xuanbo Chen & Ranbo Yu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Particle Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Xuanbo Chen, Jiao Wang, Jiawei Wan, Nailiang Yang & Dan Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Eco-chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Ping Li & Jianjian Lin

  4. Henan Province Industrial Technology Research Institute of Resources and Materials, Green Catalysis Center, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Jiao Wang & Jiang Du

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jiawei Wan, Nailiang Yang, Lin Gu & Dan Wang

  6. Center for Nano-chemistry, Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Bo Xu & Lianming Tong

  7. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Lin Gu

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  1. Xuanbo Chen
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Correspondence to Nailiang Yang, Jianjian Lin, Ranbo Yu or Dan Wang.

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Chen, X., Li, P., Wang, J. et al. Multishelled CuO/Cu2O induced fast photo-vapour generation for drinking water. Nano Res. 15, 4117–4123 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4063-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4063-y

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