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Graphene oxide foam fabricated with surfactant foaming method for efficient solar vapor generation

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Abstract

Solar vapor generation is emerging as a reliable way to directly transfer solar illumination to vapor evaporation. Graphene-based porous photothermal materials are considered as promising absorbers in this system owing to the broadband absorption and excellent photothermal properties. In this paper, we construct a three-dimensional (3D) graphene oxide foam with a convenient surfactant foaming method for solar vapor generation. Abundant porous channels and good hydrophilicity are simultaneously achieved by means of the self-assembly and hydrophilic characteristics of the foaming agents. Detailed light absorption and vapor generation tests reveal that the foam monolith possesses an absorption rate at ~ 89% and a considerable solar vapor efficiency of ~ 81% under a solar intensity of 1 kW m−2.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61604110, 51802234), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Provincial China (2018CFC796, 2017CFC829, 2017CFB291), Department of Education Science Research Program of Hubei Province (Q20161110) and Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Process of Wuhan Institute of Technology (NRGCT201503), Training Programs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates of Hubei Province (201510488022), Scientific Research Program of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (B2017014, D20171505).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Fang, Lei Zhao, Hui Chen, Xuan He, Weixin Li, Xing Du, Zhimin Sun, Tao Zhang & Yue Shen

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  1. Wei Fang
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Correspondence to Lei Zhao.

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Fang, W., Zhao, L., Chen, H. et al. Graphene oxide foam fabricated with surfactant foaming method for efficient solar vapor generation. J Mater Sci 54, 12782–12793 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03794-0

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