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Black titania/graphene oxide nanocomposite films with excellent photothermal property for solar steam generation

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Abstract

Solar steam generation is an efficient and green technology for desalination and drinking water purification, however, impeded by high cost, low efficiency, and complicated process. Black titania is expected to exhibit excellent solar steam performance due to its outstanding light absorption properties, chemical stability, low cost, and innocuity. Herein, we design a high absorbing and efficient solar steam generation system based on a black titania/graphene oxide nanocomposite film affixed to airlaid paper wrapped over the surface of expandable polyethylene foam; the system possesses several important criteria required for the ideal solar steam generator: wide-spectrum absorption, adequate water supply, reduced heat loss for localized water heating, and porous structure for steam flow. Remarkably, we realized a solar thermal conversion efficiency of 69.1% under illumination of 1 kW/m2 without solar concentration, and the device delivered remarkable cycle stability.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work is financially supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant: 2016YFA0200200) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51272071, 51203045, and 21401049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials, Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials (Hubei University), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Xinghang Liu, Baofei Hou, Gang Wang, Zhenqi Cui, Xiang Zhu & Xianbao Wang

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  1. Xinghang Liu
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  2. Baofei Hou
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  3. Gang Wang
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  4. Zhenqi Cui
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Correspondence to Xianbao Wang.

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Supporting Information: Black titania/GO nanocomposite films with excellent photothermal property for solar steam generation (approximately 92 KB)

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Liu, X., Hou, B., Wang, G. et al. Black titania/graphene oxide nanocomposite films with excellent photothermal property for solar steam generation. Journal of Materials Research 33, 674–684 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.25

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