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Biomimetic hydrophilic foam with micro/nano-scale porous hydrophobic surface for highly efficient solar-driven vapor generation

仿生微/纳米疏水多孔膜负载亲水海绵用于高效太阳 能蒸汽转化

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Abstract

Solar-driven vapor generation by localized solar heating of a photothermal material is an environmentally friendly approach for seawater desalination and wastewater purification. In this work, inspired by the leaf transpiration in nature, we designed a novel bionic leaf to realize highly efficient solar vapor generation. The leaf-inspired three-dimensional (3D) material structure had a hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foam layer (equivalence to the mesophyll tissue layer in a leaf) with high porosity and low thermal conductivity, a photothermal polypyrrole (PPy) layer (equivalence to the chlorophyll layer in a leaf) coated on the PVA foam, and a micro/nano-scale porous hydrophobic surface layer (equivalence to the stomal layer in a leaf). The PVA network had microchannels for water transportation and reducing water evaporation enthalpy, the PPy layer absorbed and converted solar energy to heat water locally, and the hydrophobic porous surface layer enhanced the rate of vapor escape. The asfabricated vapor generator based on the bionic-leaf structure achieved an impressive high evaporation rate of 3.09 kg m−2 h−1 under one sun irradiation (1 kW m−2). The prototype vapor generator desalinated and purified brine and seawater successfully under natural sunlight. Such solar vapor generator based on the biomimetic structure provides a potential low-cost and highly efficient water purification technology to help mitigate the global water crisis using sustainable energy.

摘要

利用光热材料吸收太阳能产生局域化的热效应实现太阳能蒸汽 转化是一项环境友好型海水淡化和废水净化的技术. 本文受自然界中 叶片蒸腾作用的启发, 设计了一种新型仿生叶片结构, 以实现高效的太 阳能蒸汽转化. 这种新型仿生叶片结构由三个部分组成: (1) 亲水性聚 乙烯醇(PVA)海绵层(相当于叶子中的叶肉组织层), 具有高孔隙率和低 导热性; (2) 聚吡咯(PPy)层(相当于叶子中的叶绿素层)负载于PVA海绵 表面以吸收太阳能; (3) 微/纳米尺度的多孔疏水表面层(相当于叶片中 的气孔层). 其中, 亲水海绵的PVA聚合物网络提供了高效水传输通道 的同时实现了内部水蒸发焓的降低; PPy层吸收太阳能并转化为内能加 热气液蒸汽界面的水, 实现热局部化, 大大减小了热损耗; 疏水性多孔 表面层的边缘效应, 为水蒸气提供了高效逃逸通道. 基于仿生叶片结构 的太阳能蒸汽转化装置在一倍太阳光强(1 kW m−2)下蒸发率高达 3.09 kg m−2 h−1. 在室外自然光照条件下成功地对盐水和海水进行了脱 盐和净化, 平均净水速率为1.4 L m−2 h−1. 这种基于仿生叶片结构的太 阳能蒸汽转化装置提供了一种极具潜力的高效水净化方法, 有助于利 用可持续能源缓解全球水危机.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Key Project of the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (20JCZDJC00350), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51803108), and Tianjin Research Innovation Project for Postgraduate Students (2020YJSB066).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State key laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Yeran Li  (李叶燃), Wei Li  (李伟), Jiarong Niu  (牛家嵘), Xing Han  (韩幸), Xiaofang Yang  (杨晓芳), Wenyu Wang  (王闻宇), Tong Lin  (林童) & Zhengtao Zhu  (朱正涛)

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Xin Jin  (金欣)

  3. Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, 3216, Australia

    Tong Lin  (林童)

  4. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biological Science, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, 57701, USA

    Zhengtao Zhu  (朱正涛)

Authors
  1. Yeran Li  (李叶燃)
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  2. Xin Jin  (金欣)
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  3. Wei Li  (李伟)
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  6. Xiaofang Yang  (杨晓芳)
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  8. Tong Lin  (林童)
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Contributions

Author contributions Li Y and Li W conducted the experiment; Han X and Wang W performed the DSC measurement; Yang X and Niu J performed the MATLAB simulation; Lin T and Zhu Z performed some data analysis and offered helpful suggestions; Li Y and Jin X designed this study, analyzed the data and wrote the paper. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wenyu Wang  (王闻宇) or Zhengtao Zhu  (朱正涛).

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

Additional information

Supplementary information Experimental details and supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Yeran Li is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University. Her research mainly focuses on solar vapor generation by heat localization.

Xin Jin is a Professor at Tiangong University. She received her PhD degree in textile engineering from the same university in 2006. Her research activities focus on the preparation and characterization of functional fibers for energy applications.

Wenyu Wang is an Associate Professor at Tiangong University, China. He received his PhD degree in textile engineering from Tiangong University in 2006. He worked as a R&D Department Manager for the Best Chance Medical Instrument Company for three years and then joined Tiangong University. His research focuses on biomaterial fibers and functional fibers for energy applications.

Zhengtao Zhu received his BS degree in materials chemistry and MS degree in polymer chemistry and physics from Fudan University in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He received his PhD degree in materials chemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2001. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His research interests are about “nano-scaled materials and devices”.

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Biomimetic hydrophilic foam with micro/nano-scale porous hydrophobic surface for highly efficient solar-driven vapor generation

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Li, Y., Jin, X., Li, W. et al. Biomimetic hydrophilic foam with micro/nano-scale porous hydrophobic surface for highly efficient solar-driven vapor generation. Sci. China Mater. 65, 1057–1067 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1840-3

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