Simultaneously achieving thermal insulation and rapid water transport in sugarcane stems for efficient solar steam generation

Because it is able to produce desalinated water directly using solar energy with minimum carbon footprint, solar steam generation and desalination is considered one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity. Despite tremendous progress in the past few years, efficient solar steam generation and desalination can only be achieved for rather limited water quantity with the assistance of concentrators and thermal insulation, not feasible for large-scale applications. The fundamental paradox is that the conventional design of direct absorber−bulk water contact ensures efficient energy transfer and water supply but also has intrinsic thermal loss through bulk water. Here, enabled by a confined 2D water path, we report an efficient (80% under one-sun illumination) and effective (four orders salinity decrement) solar desalination device. More strikingly, because of minimized heat loss, high efficiency of solar desalination is independent of the water quantity and can be maintained without thermal insulation of the container. A foldable graphene oxide film, fabricated by a scalable process, serves as efficient solar absorbers (>94%), vapor channels, and thermal insulators. With unique structure designs fabricated by scalable processes and high and stable efficiency achieved under normal solar illumination independent of water quantity without any supporting systems, our device represents a concrete step for solar desalination to emerge as a complementary portable and personalized clean water solution.

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Salt‐Resistant Carbon Nanotubes/Polyvinyl Alcohol Hybrid Gels with Tunable Water Transport for High‐Efficiency and Long‐Term Solar Steam Generation

Energy Technology ◽

10.1002/ente.201900721 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1900721 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Gaoyue Hu ◽

Yang Cao ◽

Mingyu Huang ◽

Qiang Wu ◽

Kexi Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Polyvinyl Alcohol ◽

Water Transport ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Steam Generation ◽

Hybrid Gels ◽

Solar Steam Generation

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3D-printed hierarchical porous cellulose/alginate/carbon black hydrogel for high-efficiency solar steam generation

Chemical Engineering Journal ◽

10.1016/j.cej.2021.132765 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 132765

Author(s):

Jun Yuan ◽

Xiao Lei ◽

Chenqi Yi ◽

Haoqing Jiang ◽

Feng Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Black ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Steam Generation ◽

Hierarchical Porous ◽

3D Printed ◽

Solar Steam Generation

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A three-dimensional printed biomimetic hierarchical graphene architecture for high-efficiency solar steam-generation

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/d0ta06797k ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (37) ◽

pp. 19387-19395

Author(s):

Zhuoyue Wang ◽

Hanwen Liu ◽

Fengjuan Chen ◽

Qiangqiang Zhang

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Direct Writing ◽

Steam Generation ◽

Solar Steam Generation

A three-dimensional biomimetic hierarchical graphene architecture for high-efficiency solar steam-generation which is constructed by direct writing-based 3D printing.

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