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Fabric-based all-weather-available photo-electro-thermal steam generator with high evaporation rate and salt resistance

高蒸发速率的耐盐织物基全天候可用光热-电热蒸发 器

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Abstract

Solar-driven steam generation is a practical strategy to harness solar energy for desalination and production of clean water with a minimized carbon footprint. However, this strategy suffers from a low evaporation rate under weak illumination on cloudy days or at night. Herein, we present a fabric-based all-weather-available photo-electrothermal steam generator (P/ET-SG) capable of regulating the surface temperature and evaporation rate by the coupling effect of photo-thermal and electro-thermal heating depending on the light conditions. An unprecedented high surface temperature of 52°C in the wet state and an evaporation rate of 2.61 kg m−2 h−1 were achieved by the P/ET-SG under 1 sun with only 1 V input voltage owing to the uniform heat distribution and the coupled electro-thermal source. The oneway fluidic design of the P/ET-SG effectively prevented salt precipitation during continuous desalination in 24 h and was able to remove salt granules from the evaporation surface. Furthermore, the P/ET-SG demonstrated a high evaporation rate of 2.58 kg m−2 h−1 in the purification of concentrated saline water and dye-contaminated water with high efficiency (>99.9%). This study offers new thoughts for the design of all-weather-available solar steam generators with high efficiency and makes a step forward towards fast purification of concentrated saline water and wastewater.

摘要

太阳能驱动水蒸发是利用太阳能进行海水脱盐和清洁水生产的 实用方法, 具有最低的碳排放. 但该方法在弱光照的阴天或夜间蒸发速 率较低. 本文基于光热和电热加热的耦合效应, 提出了一种可以根据光 照条件调节表面温度和蒸发速率的织物基全天候可用光热-电热蒸发 器(P/ET-SG). 由于电热层与光热层均匀的热分布, 该P/ET-SG在1 V电 压和1 个太阳光辐照下其表面温度及蒸发速率可达5 2 ° C 和 2.61 kg m−2 h−1. P/ET-SG所采用的单向流体结构设计使其在连续24小 时的海水脱盐过程中具备极高的耐盐性, 且能除去蒸发表面的盐颗粒. 此外, 在高浓度盐水和污水净化中, P/ET-SG展现了高的蒸发速率 (2.58 kg m−2 h−1) 和净化效率(> 99.9%). 本文为全天候可用的高效太阳 能蒸发器的设计提供了新思路, 并提供了高浓度盐水和污水高效净化 的新策略.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52173049 and 12072325) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2021JJ40177). The authors would like to thank Huiquan Wang from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for the SEM imaging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, The Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials Processing & Mold of Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Shuangjie Sun  (孙双杰), Qingli Tian  (田庆利), Hao-Yang Mi  (米皓阳), Jun Li  (李鋆), Chuntai Liu  (刘春太) & Changyu Shen  (申长雨)

  2. Integrated Composites Laboratory (ICL), Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 37996, USA

    Zhanhu Guo  (郭占虎)

  3. Key Laboratory of Advanced Packaging Materials and Technology of Hunan Province, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou, 412007, China

    Hao-Yang Mi  (米皓阳) & Xin Jing  (经鑫)

Authors
  1. Shuangjie Sun  (孙双杰)
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  2. Qingli Tian  (田庆利)
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  3. Hao-Yang Mi  (米皓阳)
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  4. Jun Li  (李鋆)
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  5. Xin Jing  (经鑫)
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  6. Zhanhu Guo  (郭占虎)
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  7. Chuntai Liu  (刘春太)
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  8. Changyu Shen  (申长雨)
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Contributions

Mi HY, Guo Z, Liu C, and Shen C conceived and supervised the project; Sun S and Mi HY designed the experiments; Sun S, Tian Q, and Jing X conducted the experiment; Sun S, Mi HY, and Guo Z wrote the paper; Li J, Guo Z, Liu C, and Shen C performed some data analysis and offered helpful suggestions. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hao-Yang Mi  (米皓阳) or Zhanhu Guo  (郭占虎).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

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

Shuangjie Sun received his MSc degree from Zhengzhou University. Since 2020, he has been a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Zhanhu Guo and Prof. Hao-Yang Mi at the National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University. His research field is developing functional polymer materials and exploring their applications in environment and energy.

Hao-Yang Mi received his BSc and PhD degrees from South China University of Technology. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research fellow at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is currently an associate professor at the National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University. His current research interests include polymer foams, multifunctional nanocomposites and hydrogels, energy harvesting devices, and flexible sensors.

Zhanhu Guo is an associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. He obtained his PhD degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University (2005), and received three-year (2005–2008) postdoctoral training from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. His current research focuses on multifunctional nanocomposites for energy, electronic and environmental applications.

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Sun, S., Tian, Q., Mi, HY. et al. Fabric-based all-weather-available photo-electro-thermal steam generator with high evaporation rate and salt resistance. Sci. China Mater. 65, 2479–2490 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-2010-1

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