Building Polyoxometalate “Nano-Walls” on 3D Porous Carbon Paper: A Solar Steam Generation System for Water Purification

As promising fresh-water purification devices, solar steam generation systems have attracted significant attention recently. However, in practice, the approach often suffers from a poor solar energy conversion efficiency and a low water production rate due to poor material selection and inefficient microscopic structure design. Here, we fabricate an efficient solar steam generation system by “building” polyoxometalate “nano-walls” on rice paper-derived three-dimensional porous carbon paper. In this solar steam generation system, the height of the vertically aligned CoP₄Mo₆ “nano-walls” range from 100 to 150 nm with thicknesses about 15 to 25 nm. Under 1 sun irradiation (1 sun = 1 kW m⁻²), the surface temperature increases from 29 to 50 °C in a short time with a solar thermal conversion efficiency achieving 92.8 %. The stability and durability of this solar steam generation system, which withstands fifteen cycle continuous tests, also offer good prospects. Its attractive solar energy conversion performance originates from the intense sunlight absorption and high conversion ability of the CoP₄Mo₆ “nano-walls”, as well as extremely promising heat localization and water transportation properties of the three-dimensional porous carbon paper. This solar steam generation system, which has produced some inspiring results, is employed for seawater desalination and for purification of water polluted with organic dyes.     

太阳能海水脱盐中光热材料与蒸发装置的研究进展

用于海水脱盐的太阳能界面蒸发装置因其绿色环保、简单高效以及适用范围广等优点,受到了广泛关注。与传统的体积式蒸发装置不同,太阳能界面蒸发装置将太阳光的收集和蒸汽的产生锁定在空气-水的界面,无需从底部加热整体水来产生蒸汽,极大提高了能源利用效率。本文详细介绍了太阳能界面水蒸发装置的重要组成部分——光热材料的光热转换机理、材料种类以及材料的性能;探讨了高效海水净化太阳能蒸发装置的设计策略(增强光吸收、充足水供应、耐盐排盐等)。在此基础上,总结了基于界面蒸发中的太阳能蒸发装置的研究进展,展望了新型太阳能蒸发装置在海水净化领域的发展前景。     

Three-dimensional porous photo-thermal fiber felt with salt-resistant property for high efficient solar distillation

The urgent need for fresh water resource is a public issue facing the world. Solar distillation for seawater desalination is a promising freshwater production method. Interfacial solar evaporation systems based on 2D photo-thermal membranes have been widely studied, but salt pollution is one of the main challenges for solar distillation. In order to solve this problem, a hydrophilic three-dimensional (3D) porous photo-thermal fiber felt (PFF) was obtained by one-step method, through a simple polydopamine (PDA) coating method with hydrophobic graphite felt as a substrate. The PFF had a good evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m^?2 h^-1 and its corresponding light-vapor conversion efficiency reached 87.4%. In addition, the PFF exhibited an excellent salt-resistant ability when applied to photo-thermal evaporation of high-salinity seawater with 10 wt% NaCl, owing to its intrinsic 3D macroporous structure for the migration circulation of salt ions. The development of the PFF offers a new route for the exploration of salt-resistant photo-thermal materials and is promising for the practical application of solar distillation.     

Emerging Materials for Interfacial Solar-Driven Water Purification

Solar-driven water purification is considered as an effective and sustainable technology for water treatment using green solar energy. One major goal for practical applications is to improve the solar evaporation performance by the design of novel photothermal materials, with optimized heat localization and water transport pathways to achieve reduced energy consumption for water vaporization. Recently, some emerging materials like polymers, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and also single molecules were employed to construct novel solar evaporation systems. In this minireview, we present an overview of the recent efforts on materials development for water purification systems. The state-of-the-art applications of these emerging materials for solar-driven water treatment, including desalination, wastewater purification, sterilization and energy production, are also summarized.     

Magnetic-controllable Janus fibrous membranes with wind-resistant floatability for airflow-enhanced solar evaporation

Interfacial solar evaporation has been widely regarded as a promising pathway to desalinate seawater without secondary pollution and additional carbon emission. However, one of the challenges rarely considered is the floating stability and remote controllability of the evaporator in the face of wind and waves at the seawater surface. Herein, we demonstrate magnetic Janus membranes (MJMs) with remotely magnetic controllability and wind-resistant floatation for enhanced interfacial solar evaporation in airflow condition. These membranes are fabricated by sequential electrospinning of a hydrophobic Fe₃O₄-embedded polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) layer and a hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) layer. Due to the superparamagnetism of Fe₃O₄, our MJMs can be remotely manipulated by a magnet and can float in situ with the aid of a magnetic field, even facing the blast of airflow with a speed of 1.75 m/s. Moreover, the MJMs realize an enhanced vapor diffusion under airflow (v = 0.5 m/s) and show a water evaporation rate of 1.39 ± 0.06 kg∙m⁻²∙h⁻¹ under one sun, which is 40.4% higher than that in windless condition. This work provides a promising material solution with magnetic design for the practical offshore application of Janus membranes in interfacial solar evaporation.     

多尺度Ag/CuO复合光热材料的制备及在海水淡化中的应用

采用原位化学反应和热处理相结合的策略,在泡沫铜表面形成丝线状与花瓣状的立体无机物阵列,然后在其表面蒸镀Ag纳米颗粒(NPs),成功制备了基于泡沫铜的Ag/CuO复合光热材料。该复合材料因表面三维立体阵列结构以及Ag NPs而具备较高的太阳光吸收率。故而,Ag/CuO复合光热材料结合三聚氰胺泡沫组成的蒸发器件实现了高效的海水淡化。本研究除了探索光陷阱深度和金属掺杂对吸收体光热转换效率增强之外,还搭建了太阳能驱动界面蒸汽生成测试系统,测试了样品的光热蒸发性能。在1倍太阳(1 kW·m~(-2))辐照下,该器件整体蒸发速率高达1.097 6 kg·m~(-2)·h~(-1),即其蒸发效率可达78.38%。     

Bilayer rGO-Based Photothermal Evaporator for Efficient Solar-Driven Water Purification[]**

Interfacial evaporation has emerged as a promising approach to produce freshwater. However, an urgent concern is that, due to the illegal discharge of industrial wastewater, most water bodies are polluted by trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are easily volatilized and enriched in the collected water during the interfacial evaporation process. Herein, a bilayer photothermal evaporator was reasonably designed for contaminated water purification. The bottom hydrophilic rGO-sodium alginate (SA) sheets purposefully disintegrate water transport channels, thus quickly removing VOCs through physical adsorption. The rGO-SA-TiO₂ upper layer sufficiently absorbs incident light and therefore persistently generates reactive oxidizing species to degrade upward VOCs. Notably, the oriented microchannels inside the evaporator allow sustained light reflections to improve the utilization of solar energy. The evaporation rate can reach 1.63 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with a considerably high VOC removal efficiency of up to 96 %. Such an integrated bilayer evaporator provides an effective strategy to obtain clean water via solar distillation.     

网状骨架CVD生长碳纳米管用于重盐水脱盐

目前,太阳能海水淡化领域通过光子管理、纳米尺度热调控、开发新型光热转换材料、设计高效光吸收太阳能蒸馏器等方法实现了界面太阳能驱动蒸汽生成,这种绿色、可持续的脱盐技术已成为近年来的研究热点。碳基材料如碳纳米管、石墨烯、炭黑、石墨等都有涵盖整个太阳光光谱的光吸收能力,是一类新型的光热转换材料。本文通过对材料进行微结构设计,使用化学气相沉积(CVD)技术,在不锈钢网状骨架上生长碳纳米管形成光热转换活性区,以实现高效光吸收、光热转换,并进一步设计了房屋型太阳能蒸发器,其中盐水表面被微米网状-碳纳米管蒸发膜覆盖,利用光热转换过程产生的热量驱动重盐水中的水蒸发产生水蒸气,最后对水蒸气进行冷凝回收实现脱盐。实验结果表明,当光照强度为1个太阳光(1 kW·m~(-2))时,膜表面温度迅速升高并稳定于84.37°C,对于重盐水(100 g·L~(-1) NaCl)的脱盐率达到99.92%,可实现稳定持续的重盐水脱盐。这种方法可用于构建多孔界面光热转换脱盐系统,对设计界面光蒸汽转化膜材料及器件,实现规模化海水淡化具有重要的意义。     

多孔碳基复合膜的真空冷冻干燥制备及高效太阳能水蒸发性能

以多壁碳纳米管(CNTs)和聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)为原料, 通过相转化法形成均匀共混的胶体, 利用真空冷冻干燥(冻干)技术使胶体固化, 并在真空状态下使部分溶剂挥发, 制备了具有多孔结构的CNTs/PVDF复合膜. 实验结果表明, 冻干CNTs/PVDF复合膜具有优异的光吸收能力、 极佳的表面亲水性能. 在1 kW/m²光照强度下, 其水蒸发速率可达1.95 kg·m^-2·h^-1、 光热转化效率为92.9%. 搭载了冻干CNTs/PVDF复合膜的蒸发器在处理模拟海水和染料废水时, 均表现出良好的抗盐污染性、 显著的稳定性和优异的太阳能蒸发性能.     

石墨烯三维结构组装体制备及光热水蒸发和水处理研究进展

水资源短缺是世界长期面临的问题,当前全球80多个国家的约15亿人口面临淡水不足,其中26个国家的3亿人口完全生活在缺水状态。近年来,人们开发了新型太阳能界面水蒸发材料和技术,能够利用高效光热材料吸收太阳能转化为热能,实现大量的、快速的水蒸发,冷凝后收集便得到洁净水,是一种高效、绿色、低成本水处理和解决水资源短缺的方法。石墨烯三维组装体材料的物理和化学性质优异,光热转化效率高,同时其太阳光吸收率高,内部微纳孔道丰富,具有良好的水传输通道,表面水蒸发面积大,在太阳光照射下能够实现超高的水蒸发速率,在光热水处理方面展现了巨大的科学研究意义和实用价值。本文将综述石墨烯三维组装体的制备及光热水处理方面的研究进展,包括石墨烯三维结构组装体制备方法,其光热水蒸发性能,总结了石墨烯三维结构组装体在光热水蒸发及水处理方面的应用,最后分析了石墨烯三维结构组装体光热水处理面临的问题及展望。     

An AES study of the room-temperature oxidation of TaSix after bombardment with Ar+ ions of different energies

Tantalum silicide films of ∼200 nm thick and composition TaSi₂ were obtained by co-sputtering in a Varian 3120 S-gun magnetron system. The films were then introduced in an AES spectrometer and bombarded with Ar⁺ ions of different energies in order to obtain surfaces of different compositions as a consequence of preferential sputtering effects and their dependence on the energy of the primary ions. Lowering the energy of the Ar⁺ ions resulted in surfaces very rich in tantalum. The interactions of these surfaces with oxygen at low pressures (10⁻⁸−10⁻⁵ Torr) and at room temperature then have been studied comparatively by Auger electron spectroscopy. Reference experiments with pure Si and Ta allowed the comparison with those of the different silicide surfaces. It is found that the oxygen uptake depends on the Ta content so that the richer in Ta the surface is, the higher the O₂ incorporation. Furthermore, the uptake rate at the different TaSi_x surfaces resembles better the measured rate for pure Ta than that observed for pure Si. It has been observed also that the oxidation of Si is enhanced over that of pure silicon in all the surfaces studied here. Besides, the enhancement depends on the tantalum content.     

Nano Si preparation by constant cell voltage electrolysis of FFC-Cambridge Process in molten CaCl2

Using FFC-Cambridge Process to prepare Si from SiO₂ is a promising method to prepare nanostructured and highly pure silicon for solar cells. However, the method still has many problems unsolved and the controlling effect of the cell voltage on silicon product is not clear. Here we report in this article that nano cluster-like silicon product with purity of 99.95% has been prepared by complete conversion of raw material SiO₂, quartz glass plate, using constant cell voltage electrolysis FFC-Cambridge Process. By analysis of XRD, EDS, TEM, HRTEM and ICP-AES as well as the discussion from the thermodynamics calculation, the morphology and components of the product based on the change of cell voltage are clarified. It is clear that pure silicon could be prepared at the cell voltage of 1.7–2.1 V in this reaction system. The silicon material have cluster-like structure which are made of silicon nanoparticles in 20–100 nm size. Interestingly, the cluster-like nano structure of the silicon can be tuned by the used cell voltage. The purity, yield and the energy cost of silicon product prepared at the optimized cell voltage are discussed. The purity of the silicon product could be further improved, hence this method is promising for the preparation of solar grade silicon in future.     

Polymeric materials for solar water purification

Solar-based desalination or water purification is regarded as one of the promising solutions to global water scarcity as the only energy input is abundant and sustainable solar light. Interfacial solar vapor generation (SVG), which converts natural sunlight into clean water vapor, has attracted extensive research interests due to its high-energy utilization efficiency and simple implementation. With tunable molecular structures and tailorable physical properties, polymers have demonstrated great potential as candidate materials for solar evaporators. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on polymer materials for solar-powered water purification. First, we present functional polymers with highly tunable molecular composition and morphology as high-efficiency solar absorbers. Next, the recent development of various polymeric materials and structural engineering strategies for adequate water supply and efficient thermal management are discussed, along with their excellent desalination and purification performance. Last, we outline the challenges and future directions on the further development of polymer materials for solar water purification technologies.     

Thermal Efficiency of Solar Steam Generation Approaching 100 % through Capillary Water Transport

Solar‐driven interfacial water evaporation yield is severely limited by the low efficiency of solar thermal energy. Herein, the injection control technique (ICT) achieves a capillary water state in rGO foam and effectively adjusts the water motion mode therein. Forming an appropriate amount of capillary water in the 3D graphene foam can greatly increase the vapor escape channel, by ensuring that the micrometer‐sized pore channels do not become completely blocked by water and by exposing as much evaporation area as possible while preventing solar heat from being used to heat excess water. The rate of solar steam generation can reach up to 2.40 kg m^?2 h^?1 under solar illumination of 1 kW m^?2, among the best values reported. In addition, solar thermal efficiency approaching 100 % is achieved. This work enhances solar water‐evaporation performance and promotes the application of solar‐driven evaporation systems made of carbon‐based materials.     

A Polyoxometalate-Based Binder-Free Capacitive Deionization Electrode for Highly Efficient Sea Water Desalination

Capacitive deionization is a promising technique in sea water desalination. Compared with common electrodes, mixed capacitive-deionization electrodes exhibit better performance in sea water desalination because they integrate pseudocapacitance and electric double-layer capacitance in one system. Herein, a 3D binder-free mixed capacitive-deionization electrode was fabricated by direct electrodeposition of SiW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻ and polyaniline on a 3D exfoliated graphite carrier. In this electrode, SiW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻/polyaniline composite particles with a size of about 100–120 nm are dispersed homogenously on the 3D exfoliated graphite carrier. Its specific capacitance reaches 352 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹. With increasing current from 1 to 20 A g⁻¹, the specific capacitance only decays by 32 %. When employed in sea water desalination, the performance of this mixed capacitive-deionization electrode is also excellent. At 1.2 V, the salt adsorption capacity of this mixed electrode reaches 23.1 mg g⁻¹ with a salt adsorption rate of 1.38 mg g⁻¹ min⁻¹ in 500 mg L⁻¹ NaCl. The performance of this electrode is well retained after 30 cycles. The excellent sea water desalination performance originates from the synergistic effect between SiW₁₂O₄₀⁴⁻ and polyaniline. This work has developed polyoxometalate as a new material for capacitive-deionization electrodes.     

The Combination of 2D Layered Graphene Oxide and 3D Porous Cellulose Heterogeneous Membranes for Nanofluidic Osmotic Power Generation

Salinity gradient energy, as a type of blue energy, is a promising sustainable energy source. Its energy conversion efficiency is significantly determined by the selective membranes. Recently, nanofluidic membrane made by two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials (e.g., graphene) with densely packed nanochannels has been considered as a high-efficient membrane in the osmotic power generation research field. Herein, the graphene oxide-cellulose acetate (GO–CA) heterogeneous membrane was assembled by combining a porous CA membrane and a layered GO membrane; the combination of 2D nanochannels and 3D porous structures make it show high surface-charge-governed property and excellent ion transport stability, resulting in an efficient osmotic power harvesting. A power density of about 0.13 W/m² is achieved for the sea–river mimicking system and up to 0.55 W/m² at a 500-fold salinity gradient. With different functions, the CA and GO membranes served as ion storage layer and ion selection layer, respectively. The GO–CA heterogeneous membrane open a promising avenue for fabrication of porous and layered platform for wide potential applications, such as sustainable power generation, water purification, and seawater desalination.     

Preparation of Three-dimensional Graphene-based Sponge as Photo-thermal Conversion Material to Desalinate Seawater

Water shortage has become one of the major threats to human society over the past centuries. The new interfacial solar evaporation is undoubtedly an attracting technology to solve this problem. Herein, graphene aerogel(GA) and graphene oxide/melamine sponge composite material(GO-MS) were prepared through a two-step reduction and one-step freezing method as photo-thermal materials to evaporate pure water and seawater. The proper concentrations of the graphene oxide(GO) dispersion for their preparation were investigated, which is 7 mg/mL for GA, and 5 mg/mL for GO-MS. The evaporation rates of GA are 1.40 kg/(m²·h) for pure water and 1.21 kg/(m²·h) for seawater, while for GO-MS it is 1.63 kg/(m²·h) for pure water and 1.45 kg/(m²·h) for seawater, respectively. The composite material not only reduces the usage of GO, but also shows better photo-thermal conversion properties. Furthermore, the heat loss of evaporation system was calculated and the method of further enhancing photo-thermal conversion efficiency was deduced, which will provide a strong basis for guiding the design and development of graphene based three-dimensional materials and further exploration in this field.     

Novel advances in metal-based solar absorber for photothermal vapor generation

Access to safe drinking water has become an extremely urgent research topic worldwide. In recent years, the technology of solar vapor generation has been extensively explored as a potential and effective strategy of transforming elements content in seawater. In this review, the basic concepts and theories of metal-based photothermal vapor generation device (PVGD) with excellent optical and thermal regulatory are introduced. In the view of optical regulation, how to achieve high-efficiency localized evaporation in different evaporation system (i.e., volumetric solar heating and interface solar heating) is discussed; from the aspect of thermal regulation, the importance of selective absorption surface for interfacial PVGD is analyzed. Based on the above discussion and analysis, we summarize the challenges of metal-based desalination device.     

Enhanced Metal-Support Interactions Boost the Electrocatalytic Water Splitting of Supported Ruthenium Nanoparticles on a Ni3N/NiO Heterojunction at Industrial Current Density

Developing highly efficient and stable hydrogen production catalysts for electrochemical water splitting (EWS) at industrial current densities remains a great challenge. Herein, we proposed a heterostructure-induced-strategy to optimize the metal-support interaction (MSI) and the EWS activity of Ru-Ni₃N/NiO. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations firstly predicted that the Ni₃N/NiO-heterostructures can improve the structural stability, electronic distributions, and orbital coupling of Ru-Ni₃N/NiO compared to Ru-Ni₃N and Ru-NiO, which accordingly decreases energy barriers and increases the electroactivity for EWS. As a proof-of-concept, the Ru-Ni₃N/NiO catalyst with a 2D Ni₃N/NiO-heterostructures nanosheet array, uniformly dispersed Ru nanoparticles, and strong MSI, was successfully constructed in the experiment, which exhibited excellent HER and OER activity with overpotentials of 190 mV and 385 mV at 1000 mA cm⁻², respectively. Furthermore, the Ru-Ni₃N/NiO-based EWS device can realize an industrial current density (1000 mA cm⁻²) at 1.74 V and 1.80 V under alkaline pure water and seawater conditions, respectively. Additionally, it also achieves a high durability of 1000 h (@ 500 mA cm⁻²) in alkaline pure water.     

Cold-Resistant Nitrogen/Sulfur Dual-Doped Graphene Fiber Supercapacitors with Solar–Thermal Energy Conversion Effect

Although graphene fiber-based supercapacitors are promising for wearable electronic devices, the low energy density of electrodes and poor cold resistance of aqueous electrolytes limit their wide application in cold environments. Herein, porous nitrogen/sulfur dual-doped graphene fibers (NS-GFs) are synthesized by hydrothermal self-assembly followed by thermal annealing, exhibiting an excellent capacitive performance of 401 F cm⁻³ at 400 mA cm⁻³ because of the synergistic effect of heteroatom dual-doping. The assembled symmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor with polyvinyl alcohol/H₂SO₄/graphene oxide gel electrolyte exhibits a high capacitance of 221 F cm⁻³ and a high energy density of 7.7 mWh cm⁻³ at 80 mA cm⁻³. Interestingly, solar–thermal energy conversion of the electrolyte with 0.1 wt % graphene oxide extends the operating temperature range of the supercapacitor to 0 °C. Furthermore, the photocatalysis effect of the dual-doped heteroatoms increases the capacitance of NS-GFs. At an ambient temperature of 0 °C, the capacitance increases from 0 to 182 F cm⁻³ under 1 sun irradiation because of the excellent solar light absorption and efficient solar–thermal energy conversion of graphene oxide, preventing the aqueous electrolyte from freezing. The flexible supercapacitor exhibits a long cycle life, good bending resistance, reliable scalability, and ability to power visual electronics, showing great potential for outdoor electronics in cold environments.