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Interfacial Solar Evaporator - Physical Principles and Fabrication Methods

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Abstract

Production of fresh water based on a renewable energy source is one of the most important global challenges for mankind due to ever-accelerating climate changes. Solar thermal evaporation shows promise for overcoming the water scarcity problem by utilizing solar energy, the most abundant and clean energy source. To enhance the performance of solar evaporators, interfacial solar evaporators have been introduced, which harness solar energy onto the water surface. To enable energy conversion and water evaporation at the interfaces of a solar evaporator, multi-scale heat and water transport have been investigated. Furthermore, various light-absorbing materials and system configurations have been studied to achieve the theoretical maximum performance. The fundamental physics of the interfacial solar evaporator, including thermal and water transport, and a broad range of interfacial solar evaporator devices in terms of the fabrication techniques and its structures are reviewed.

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Copyright 2014, John Wiley and Sons. b Schematic diagram and structural images of hydrogel-based interfacial solar evaporator. Adapted with permission [69]. Copyright 2018, Royal Society of Chemistry. c SEM images and schematic illustration of TiOx nanoparticles coated solar evaporator. Adapted with permission [26]. Copyright 2017, John Wiley and Sons. d Carbon based evaporator fabricated by ablation of porous polyimide foam with a CO2 laser. Adapted with permission [80]. Copyright 2020, Elsevier

Fig. 7

Copyright 2018, John Wiley and Sons b Interfacial solar evaporator with patterned carbon black on air-laid paper. Adapted with permission [105]. Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society. c Interfacial solar evaporator imitating a jellyfish. Adapted with permission [107]. Copyright 2020, Elsevier. d TiN coated on anodic aluminum oxide templates. Adapted with permission [115]. Copyright 2019, John Wiley and Sons

Fig. 8

Copyright 2018, Elsevier. b Origami-based solar interfacial evaporator using Miura-ori tessellation. Adapted with permission [118]. Copyright 2018, American Chemical Society. c The hollow cylindrical shape evaporator which can re-absorb light and heat. Adapted with permission [122]. Copyright 2018, Elsevier. d Kirigami-based 3D spiral evaporator. Adapted with permission [123]. Copyright 2021, Elsevier. e Panel-shape evaporator with bifaciality. Adapted with permission [49]. Copyright 2020, Springer Nature. f Carbonized mushroom as efficient interfacial solar evaporators. Adapted with permission [125]. Copyright 2017, John Wiley and Sons

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Grant nos. NRF-2020R1C1C1005880 and NRF-2018R1A3B1052541) via SNU-IAMD and SNU Creative-Pioneering Researchers Program via Institute of Engineering Research at SNU.

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Jungtaek Kim, Jaewoo Hwang, Seongheon Kim, Seong Ho Cho, Hanseul Choi, Ho-Young Kim & Yun Seog Lee

  2. Institute of Advanced Machines and Design, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Yun Seog Lee

  3. Inter-University Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Yun Seog Lee

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  1. Jungtaek Kim
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Kim, J., Hwang, J., Kim, S. et al. Interfacial Solar Evaporator - Physical Principles and Fabrication Methods. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 8, 1347–1367 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-021-00337-4

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