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Fabric interleaved composite hydrogels for high-performance solar-enabled interfacial evaporation

用于高性能太阳能界面蒸发的织物交错复合水凝胶

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Abstract

Two-dimensional fabric materials have been widely used for solar interface evaporation (SIE), but it still remains challenging to achieve strong interaction between the light absorbing materials and fibers, powerful water transportation capability, excellent salt rejection performance and high evaporation rate for the fabric-based solar evaporators. Here, we prepared a fabric interleaved composite hydrogel (FICH) for SIE. The acidified carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) were uniformly distributed in the hydrogel and formed hydrogen bonding with macromolecular chains. Water could be continuously pumped into the composite hydrogel through the superhydrophilic fabric for SIE with a reduced evaporation enthalpy. The thin FICH evaporator with excellent photothermal conversion performance possessed a high evaporation rate (up to 2.47 kg m−2 h−1), great salt resistance and long-term evaporation stability and durability. In addition, FICH could work normally for SIE in some corrosive and emulsion solutions, and show broad application prospects in solar seawater desalination.

摘要

二维织物材料已广泛应用于太阳能界面蒸发, 然而织物基太阳能蒸发器要实现吸光材料与纤维之间的强相互作用, 高效的输水能力, 优异的脱盐性能和高蒸发率仍然具有挑战性. 我们制备了一种织物交错复合水凝胶(FICH)用于高效的太阳能界面蒸发. 由于酸化碳纳米管均匀分布在水凝胶中并与大分子链形成氢键, 水可以通过超亲水织物连续泵入复合水凝胶中, 从而降低水的蒸发焓. 薄型FICH蒸发器具有优异的光热转换性能, 具有高蒸发速率(2.47 kg m−2 h−1), 强耐盐性, 长期蒸发稳定性和耐久性. 此外, FICH可以用于腐蚀性溶液和乳液的净化, 在太阳能海水淡化中显示出广阔的应用前景.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52103099), Qing Lan Project of Yangzhou University and Jiangsu Province, the High-end Talent Project of Yangzhou University, and the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Sichuan University) (sklpme2020-4-03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, China

    Lanfen Chen  (陈兰芬), Qin Su  (苏秦), Zefeng Wu  (吴泽枫), Junjie Wang  (王俊杰), Guoqiang Zhang  (张国强), Huaiguo Xue  (薛怀国) & Jiefeng Gao  (高杰峰)

  2. Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, China

    Jiefeng Gao  (高杰峰)

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  1. Lanfen Chen  (陈兰芬)
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  2. Qin Su  (苏秦)
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  3. Zefeng Wu  (吴泽枫)
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  6. Huaiguo Xue  (薛怀国)
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Contributions

Author contributions Chen L designed and engineered the samples; Su Q conceived the post-fabrication tuning of random modes; Chen L and Su Q performed the experiments; Wu Z and Wang J performed the data analysis; Chen L wrote the paper with support from Gao J and Xue H; Zhang G contributed to the theoretical analysis. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

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Correspondence to Huaiguo Xue  (薛怀国) or Jiefeng Gao  (高杰峰).

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

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

Lanfen Chen studied chemical materials and chemical engineering at Yangzhou University. Her research area is the study of polymer nanocomposites for efficient interfacial evaporation.

Huaiguo Xue is a professor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University. He received his PhD degree in polymer chemistry and physics from Zhejiang University in 2002 and did postdoctoral research at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2002 to 2003. His current research focuses on bioelectrochemistry, functional polymer materials, and chemical sensors.

Jiefeng Gao is a professor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Physical Materials, City University of Hong Kong in 2013, and then went to the University of Sydney to do postdoctoral research. His current research focuses on high-performance polymer nanocomposites.

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Chen, L., Su, Q., Wu, Z. et al. Fabric interleaved composite hydrogels for high-performance solar-enabled interfacial evaporation. Sci. China Mater. 66, 2852–2862 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2407-2

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