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Hierarchical porous carbon nanofibers for highly efficient solar-driven water purification

分级多孔碳纳米纤维用于高效太阳能驱动水净化

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Abstract

Carbon materials are commonly used in the solar steam generation because they can absorb broadband light and generate heat effectively. However, conventional carbon with a smooth surface is limited by a moderate reflection of approximately 10%, causing significant reflective energy loss. Thus, we proposed a nanoscale multiple interface strategy to boost the intrinsic light absorption of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) for more efficient solar-driven water purification. The multiple interfaces were constructed by introducing hierarchical nanopores in CNFs (HPCNFs) through a facile sacrificial framework method. Owing to the high surface roughness and abundant internal air-dielectric interfaces derived from the hierarchical pores, the HPCNFs show significant improvement in broadband light (300–2500 nm) absorption up to 97.62%, which enables high solar-vapor conversion efficiency of 96.13% and evaporation rate of 1.78 kg m−2 h−1 under one sun illumination, surpassing majority of the related carbon materials. When used for solar steam desalination, the HPCNF film demonstrates high rejection of ions (< 0.05 mg L−1 salt ions) and produces freshwater from the lake at a rate of 11.18 kg m−2 per day, adequate to satisfy the daily needs of 4–5 individuals. This work provides a facile strategy for designing efficient carbon-based solar steam generation materials.

摘要

碳材料通常用于太阳能水蒸发, 因为它们可以吸收宽带光并有效地产生热量. 然而, 具有光滑表面的传统碳材料受到大约10%的中等反射的限制, 损失了反射能量. 在此, 我们提出了一种多界面策略, 以提高碳纳米纤维(CNFs)的固有光吸收, 从而实现更高效的太阳能驱动水净化. 通过简单的牺牲模板方法, 在CNFs中引入分级孔来构建多个界面得到高表面粗糙度碳纳米纤维(HPCNFs). 由于高表面粗糙度和源自分级孔的丰富内部空气介电界面, HPCNFs在宽带光(300–2500 nm)吸收显著改善, 高达97.62%, 这使得在1个太阳光照下的太阳光转换为蒸汽的效率达到96.13%, 蒸发率高达1.78 kg m−2 h−1, 超过了大多数相关的纯碳材料. 当用于太阳能水蒸发脱盐时, HPCNF膜表现出对离子的高度排斥(< 0.05 mg L−1盐离子), 并以每天11.18 kg m−2的速率从湖中产生淡水, 足以满足4–5个人的日常需求. 这项工作为高效碳基太阳能水蒸发材料的设计提供了一种简便策略.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chang Jiang Scholars Program and the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2019-01-07-00-03-E00023), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52202218, 62171116 and 51973027), DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program, Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (22ZR1401000) and Shanghai Pujiang Program (21PJ1400200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Textile Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Qingliang Luo  (罗清亮), Yi Yang  (羊燚), Kangkang Wang  (汪康康), Rongwu Wang  (王荣武), Dongxiao Ji  (季东晓) & Xiaohong Qin  (覃小红)

  2. Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Jianyong Yu  (俞建勇)

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  1. Qingliang Luo  (罗清亮)
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Contributions

Luo Q conducted the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the original draft with support from Yang Y and Wang K. Qin X, Yu J, and Wang R supervised the project. Ji D conceived the idea, supervised the work and revised the draft. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Rongwu Wang  (王荣武) or Dongxiao Ji  (季东晓).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Qingliang Luo is a PhD candidate at the School of Textiles, Donghua University, China. His research interests include functional electrospinning membranes, single-atom catalysis and flexible zinc air batteries.

Rongwu Wang is currently a professor at the College of Textiles, Donghua University, China. He received his PhD degree from the College of Textiles, Donghua University in 2008. His current research interest focuses on the structural analysis and design of non-nonwovens.

Dongxiao Ji is a distinguished young professor at Donghua University, China. He received his MS and PhD degrees in textile science and engineering from Donghua University in 2012 and 2018, respectively. Then, he worked as a research fellow at the Nanofiber Research Center of National University of Singapore. Dr. Ji is committed to the research of large-scale electrospinning technology for nanofibers and nanoparticles and their applications in energy and smart systems.

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Luo, Q., Yang, Y., Wang, K. et al. Hierarchical porous carbon nanofibers for highly efficient solar-driven water purification. Sci. China Mater. 66, 3310–3318 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-023-2431-3

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