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3D carbon aerogel from waste corrugated cardboard as a photothermal reservoir for solar steam generation

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Abstract

Three-dimensional carbon aerogel (CA800) was prepared from waste corrugated cardboard (WCC) by the procedure of slurrying, solvent replacement, drying, and carbonization in turn, and the product was explored as an all-in-one evaporator for solar steam generation without bulk water. Carbonization of the precursor was investigated using thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Results showed that CO2, CO, furfural, and levoglucosan were released during pyrolysis of WCC within the range of 300 to 390 °C, while polymerization of newly formed char between 390 and 580 °C mainly resulted in the formation of CO2 and CO. Both pyrolysis and polymerization reactions can be described by diffusion-controlled mechanisms, and the activation energies were 155.62 and 11.17 kJ mol−1, respectively. CA800 possessed a BET surface area of 210 m2 g−1. Light can be effectively absorbed and converted into heat by CA800, and its surface temperature achieving 73 °C under 1 kW m−2 irradiation. CA800 had outstanding wettability due to the presence of hydrophilic minerals in carbon matrix, and it was able to store as much as 15 times its own weight in water due to its abundant interconnected channels and hierarchical nanopores. Solar-driven water evaporation rate over CA800 achieved 1.72 kg m−2 (normalized to projection area), which was nearly 6 times higher than the value achieved by the bare water system. The photothermal conversion efficiency was calculated to be 118 %, and the overestimated efficiency was caused by the environmental energy gained by the cold evaporation surface of CA800.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

WCC:

Waste corrugated cardboard

SSG:

Solar steam generation

GO:

Graphene oxide

CNT:

Carbon nanotube

CA(s):

Carbon aerogel(s)

3D:

Three-dimensional

WCCW-Et :

WCC underwent pulping in water, solvent replaced with anhydrous ethanol, molding, and drying

WCCW :

WCC underwent pulping in water, molding, and drying

CA800:

Carbon aerogel with cylindrical shape prepared from WCCW-Et via carbonization at 800 °C

C800:

Carbon monolith with irregular shape prepared from WCCW via carbonization at 800 °C

S BET :

Surface area calculated using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method

V Total :

Total pore volume

V Micro :

Micropore volume

V Meso :

Mesopore volume

D Avg :

Average pore diameter

UV-Vis-NIR:

Ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectrophotometer

TG:

Thermogravimetry

DTG:

Derivative thermogravimetry

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectrometer

XRD:

X-ray diffractometer

IR:

Infrared

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Funding

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51909292).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, 100012, China

    Hanxin Huo

  2. The Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization, Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Tianjin, 300192, China

    Yuhui Ma, Yu Cheng & Junrui Cao

  3. Tianjin Haiyue Water Treatment High-tech Co., Ltd., Tianjin, 300192, China

    Yuhui Ma, Yu Cheng & Junrui Cao

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  1. Hanxin Huo
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  2. Yuhui Ma
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  3. Yu Cheng
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  4. Junrui Cao
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Contributions

HH: Investigation, formal analysis, writing—original draft, visualization. YM: Funding acquisition, supervision, conceptualization, methodology, resources, writing—review and editing. YC: Formal analysis, visualization, writing—review and editing. JC: Visualization, validation. All the authors contributed to critically reading of the paper and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuhui Ma.

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Huo, H., Ma, Y., Cheng, Y. et al. 3D carbon aerogel from waste corrugated cardboard as a photothermal reservoir for solar steam generation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 23936–23948 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17659-0

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