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Narrow-bandgap light-absorbing conjugated polybenzobisthiazole: Massive interfacial synthesis, robust solar-thermal evaporation and thermoelectric power generation

窄能隙吸光型共轭聚苯并二噻唑: 大规模界面合成及 其强太阳能光热蒸发和温差发电性能

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Abstract

Exploiting advanced light-absorbing conjugated polymers is of great significance to achieve the blue dream of low-energy solar steam generation and clean water collection. Herein, an interfacial chemistry strategy is developed to massively synthetize conjugated polybenzobisthiazole (CP) microspheres with a narrow bandgap of 0.274 eV and high solar absorbance of 94.0%. The CP microspheres are combined with the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel to form a Janus evaporator. The evaporation rate and energy efficiency of the CP@PVA solar evaporator reach 2.96 kg m−2 h−1 and 98.8% with a low coating content of 5 mg cm−2. The evaporation performance of the Janus CP@PVA evaporator is applicable to seawater, sewage, and acid/alkali water. The efficient evaporator with portable collector can be simply assembled to produce drinking water from real seawater and sewage. Additionally, the Janus evaporator is also equipped with a thermoelectric module to generate the steam and electricity simultaneously. The power output achieves 1.04 W m−2 in real seawater while the evaporation rate remains 2.23 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun, demonstrating the remarkable capacity to utilize the solar energy.

摘要

为了实现低能耗太阳能蒸发和纯净水富集, 开发先进的吸光型 共轭聚合物是非常重要的. 本研究通过界面化学大规模合成了共轭聚 苯并二噻唑微球, 其带隙窄至0.274 eV, 太阳光吸收率高达94.0%. 由聚 苯并二噻唑微球与聚乙烯醇水凝胶可组装成Janus型蒸发器. 当聚苯并 二噻唑微球涂布量为5 mg cm−2时, 自支撑Janus型太阳能蒸发器的蒸发 速率和能量效率分别达到2.96 kg m−2 h−1和98.8%. Janus型蒸发器对模 拟海水、污水和酸/碱性溶液具有强效脱盐和净化性能. 装配了Janus型 蒸发器的便携式太阳能净水装置可将真实海水淡化至远高于饮用水标 准, 并将真实污水的化学需氧量净化至极低水平. Janus型蒸发器还可 与温差发电模块相结合, 以实现水电联产. 在1个标准太阳光照下, 真实 海水的蒸发率和发电输出功率分别达到2.23 kg m−2 h−1和1.04 W m−2, 展现了优越的太阳能利用能力.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A20299), Guangzhou Science and Technology Planning Project (202103000042), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515011379), Guangdong Special Support Program (2017TX04N371), and Guangdong Enterprise Sci-tech Commissioner (GDKTP2020013400).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Functional Soft Condensed Matter, School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangdong, 510006, China

    Xi Zhao  (赵曦), Zhifeng He  (何智锋), Wentao Ou  (区文滔), Pengcheng Lin  (林鹏程), Yingying Chen  (陈莹莹) & Ying Chen  (陈颖)

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  1. Xi Zhao  (赵曦)
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  2. Zhifeng He  (何智锋)
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  3. Wentao Ou  (区文滔)
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  4. Pengcheng Lin  (林鹏程)
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  5. Yingying Chen  (陈莹莹)
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  6. Ying Chen  (陈颖)
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Contributions

Zhao X led the conceptualization, investigation, formal analysis, and visualization, wrote the original draft and helped with the review and editing. He Z helped with the investigation. Ou W led the supply of resources. Lin P led the review & editing, supervision, funding acquisition, and helped with the conceptualization. Chen YY helped with the investigation and validation. Chen Y led the project administration.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Pengcheng Lin  (林鹏程) or Ying Chen  (陈颖).

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Supplementary information

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

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Xi Zhao is a doctoral candidate at the School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology. He mainly focuses on polymeric and carbonaceous solar-thermal materials and their applications in solar steam generation.

Pengcheng Lin is an associate professor in Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Functional Soft Condensed Matter (Guangdong University of Technology). He received his PhD degree in polymer chemistry and physics from Northeastern University in 2016. He worked as a visiting scholar at the City University of Hong Kong from 2018 to 2019. His research interests include advanced optical materials and solar-thermal evaporation.

Ying Chen is a professor at Guangdong University of Technology, also the dean of the School of Materials and Energy and the executive director of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Functional Soft Condensed Matter. She received her PhD degree in chemical engineering from South China University of Technology in 2003. She joined Guangdong University of Technology as a lecturer in 1994 and was promoted to professor in 2008. Her research interests focus on energy materials and energy systems.

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40843_2021_2002_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Narrow-Bandgap Light-absorbing Conjugated Polybenzobisthiazole: Massive Interfacial Synthesis, Robust Solar-thermal Evaporation and Thermoelectric Power Generation

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Zhao, X., He, Z., Ou, W. et al. Narrow-bandgap light-absorbing conjugated polybenzobisthiazole: Massive interfacial synthesis, robust solar-thermal evaporation and thermoelectric power generation. Sci. China Mater. 65, 2491–2501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-2002-1

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