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Sponge-templating synthesis of sandwich-like reduced graphene oxide nanoplates with confined gold nanoparticles and their enhanced stability for solar evaporation

海绵模板法制备三明治结构的还原氧化石墨烯限域金纳米颗粒纳米片助力光热水蒸发

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Abstract

Solar evaporation based on plasmonic metal nanoparticles (MNPs) is emerging as a promising technology. However, the fine structure of MNPs is unstable, and both the high temperature generated by intensive light and corrosive ions in water could damage them. The performance will decline after recycling and long-time usage. To address these issues, we adopted a sponge-templating method for preparing sandwich-like nanoplates with the gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) confined in reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets. Due to the confinement effect, both the surface melting and ion diffusion were suppressed. The solar evaporator based on the sandwich-like nanoplates showed a high solar-vapor conversion efficiency of 85.2% under a high light intensity of 10 kW. After 30 times recycle of seawater desalination, the conversion efficiency scarcely decreased. These sandwich-like nanoplates with enhanced thermal and chemical stability of Au NPs are promising in the practical application of seawater desalination.

摘要

基于等离子体金属纳米颗粒的光热水蒸发技术具有广阔的发展前景. 然而, 由于金属纳米颗粒的不稳定性, 高温下金属纳米颗 粒将发生表面熔融, 水中的腐蚀性离子也能通过扩散作用直接与金属纳米颗粒结合而将其刻蚀. 因此, 长时间循环会使得金属纳米颗粒出现明显的性能衰减. 为了解决这些问题, 我们基于海绵模板法设计合成了一种具有三明治结构的夹心纳米片, 其中金纳米颗粒限域在还原氧化石墨烯纳米片的层间. 得益于限域效应, 表面熔融效应和离子扩散现象都得到了很好的抑制. 基于此夹心纳米片, 我们构建了一种光热水蒸发器. 在10 kW的高光强下, 该水蒸发器表现出高达85.2%的光-水蒸气转换效率, 经过30次循环海水淡化实验, 性能一直保持稳定, 没有出现明显衰减, 表明这种通过三明治结构限域金纳米颗粒的设计有利于促进光热海水淡化技术的实际应用.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51732011, 21431006, 21761132008, 81788101 and 11227901), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21521001), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (QYZDJ-SSW-SLH036), the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB931800), and the Users with Excellence and Scientific Research Grant of Hefei Science Center of CAS (2015HSC-UE007). This work was partially carried out at the USTC Center for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Institute of Energy, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Department of Chemistry, Institute of Biomimetic Materials & Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Hong-Wu Zhu  (朱洪武), Jin Ge  (葛进), Hao-Yu Zhao  (赵浩雨), Lu-An Shi  (施露安), Jin Huang  (黄晋), Liang Xu  (徐亮) & Shu-Hong Yu  (俞书宏)

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  1. Hong-Wu Zhu  (朱洪武)
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  2. Jin Ge  (葛进)
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  3. Hao-Yu Zhao  (赵浩雨)
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  4. Lu-An Shi  (施露安)
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  5. Jin Huang  (黄晋)
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  6. Liang Xu  (徐亮)
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  7. Shu-Hong Yu  (俞书宏)
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Contributions

Author contributions Yu SH supervised the project and wrote the paper; Zhu HW carried out the experiments, analyzed the results, and wrote the paper; Ge J, Zhao HY, and Xu L provided helpful discussion about the paper; Zhao HY analyzed the nanostructure and the mechanism of formation; Huang J performed the SEM measurements; Zhao HY, Shi LA, and Huang J assisted with the solar desalination experiments. All authors discussed the results and assisted during manuscript preparation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shu-Hong Yu  (俞书宏).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Hong-Wu Zhu received his bachelor degree majored in polymer materials and engineering from Hefei University of Technology, China in 2013. Then he joined the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and conducted research under the supervision of Prof. Shu-Hong Yu. His research interest focuses on the macroscopic self-assembly of nanomaterials and their applications, such as water treatment and sensors.

Shu-Hong Yu completed his PhD from USTC. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Masahiro Yoshimura (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and a Humboldt fellow with Prof. Markus Antonietti and Helmut Cölfen (MPI of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany). In 2002, he was appointed the Cheung Kong Professor at USTC. Currently, he leads the Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry at the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, USTC. He was elected as an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. His current research interests include bio-inspired synthesis and self-assembly of new nanostructured materials and nanocomposites, and their related properties. He serves as the editorial advisory board member of Accounts of Chemical Research, Nano Letters, Chemistry of Materials, Matter, Trends in Chemistry, Materials Horizons, Nano Research, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, ChemNanoMat, and CrystEngComm. His recent awards include Chem. Soc. Rev. Emerging Investigator Award (2010) and Roy-Somiya Medal of the International Solvothermal and Hydrothermal Association (ISHA) (2010).

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40843_2020_1446_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Sponge-templating synthesis of sandwich-like reduced graphene oxide nanoplates with confined gold nanoparticles and their enhanced stability for solar evaporation

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Zhu, HW., Ge, J., Zhao, HY. et al. Sponge-templating synthesis of sandwich-like reduced graphene oxide nanoplates with confined gold nanoparticles and their enhanced stability for solar evaporation. Sci. China Mater. 63, 1957–1965 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1446-5

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