A hybrid hydrogel with protonated g-C3N4 and graphene oxide as an efficient absorber for solar steam evaporation

Water desalination via solar steam generation is one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity. Materials for solar photothermal energy conversion are highly sought after for their cost savings, environmental friendliness and broad utility in many applications including domestic water heating and solar-driven desalination. Herein, we report the successful development of metal-free, low weight and cost effective functionalized carbonized cotton (CC) fibers for efficient solar water desalination and wastewater treatment. The CC fibers with nearly full solar spectrum absorption, efficient photo-thermal conversion and low-cost could provide excellent alternatives to the high-cost plasmonic-based materials for solar water desalination. We also report on a novel and simple device to mitigate the issues associated with conductive heat loss by utilizing the economically viable carbonized cotton materials as an irradiation surface placed on a low-density polyethylene foam that floats on the surface of seawater. The CC solar steam generation device exhibits average water evaporation rates of 0.9, 6.4 and 10.9 kg m−2 h−1 with impressive solar-to-vapor efficiencies of 59.2, 88.7 and 94.9% under 1, 5 and 8 sun illumination, respectively. Moreover, the device displays excellent durability showing stable evaporation rates over 10 steam generation cycles under 5 sun of solar intensity. Furthermore, the applicability of the CC device for the removal of organic dyes from contaminated water through solar steam generation is also demonstrated. The low-cost, simple design, high solar thermal evaporation efficiency, excellent stability and long-term durability make this CC device a perfect candidate for applications in seawater desalination and wastewater treatment by solar steam generation.

Design of MoS2/MMT bi-layered aerogels integrated with phase change materials for sustained and efficient solar desalination

A biomass hybrid hydrogel with hierarchical porous structure for efficient solar steam generation

Interfacial solar energy evaporation is an effective measure to alleviate the current global shortage of clean water resources. However, many solar evaporators are two-dimensional (2D) structured devices developed by coating light-absorbing materials on the surface of host materials, and the efficiency of solar steam generation is limited. For this reason, the present study reports a facile and environment-friendly method to construct a conical three-dimensional (3D) wooden evaporator, which uses flexible wood as the substrate and tannic acid complex as the light-absorbing material and is formed by further convolution. Reasonable structural design and material combination enable the evaporator to show excellent mildew resistance and highly efficient evaporation performance. The black decoration considerably improves the wood light absorption, resulting in high absorbance (>90%) of DW-TA-Fe3+ in the wavelength range of 200–800 nm. The water evaporation rate of the wooden cone evaporator can reach up to 1.79 kg m−2 h−1, about 1.6 times higher than that of the 2D evaporator. Moreover, the evaporator exhibits outstanding biological stability and effective desalination performance. This work is expected to offer a new direction in designing a 3D wooden evaporator for effective solar water desalination.

Water desalination and wastewater treatment via solar photothermal energy conversion are among the most important technologies to address the increasing pressing global water scarcity. Solar energy is the cleanest, most abundant, renewable natural resource available. Herein, we report the development of highly efficient, flexible, low weight, and cost effective Plasmonic Functionalized Cotton (PFC) nanocomposite materials for solar steam generation through the efficient evaporation of surface water pools. The PFC nanocomposites contain metallic nanoparticles that exhibit strong solar absorption followed by non-radiative relaxation causing the absorbed energy to be converted into heat for efficient water evaporation. The chemically modified cotton leads to a partial hydrophobic surface that allows the material to float on the water's surface and provide excellent thermal insulation properties in addition to facile and scalable synthesis. The PFC nanocomposites containing Au and Ag nanoparticles are demonstrated to be among the most efficient solar thermal converters reported to date for solar water desalination. The Au/Ag-PFC fibers exhibit average water evaporation rates of 1.4 and 11.3 kg m-2 h-1 with superb solar thermal efficiencies of up to 86.3% and 94.3% under 1 and 8 sun illumination, respectively. Furthermore, the Au/Ag-PFC fibers display stable evaporation rates over more than 10 repeated evaporation cycles without any performance decline under acidic solution at pH 2 or basic solution at pH 10. The successful application of the Au/Ag-PFC fibers for the removal of organic dyes from contaminated water through the solar steam generation is also demonstrated. The high solar thermal evaporation efficiency, excellent stability and long-time durability make the PFC nanocomposites excellent candidates for applications in seawater desalination and wastewater treatment by solar-steam generation.

Polypyrrole-reduced graphene oxide coated delignified wood for highly efficient solar interfacial steam generation

MXene/MnO2 nanocomposite coated superior salt-rejecting biodegradable luffa sponge for efficient solar steam generation

Integrated solar thermal steam generation and heavy-oil recovery projects have garnered interest because of their ability to decrease the variability of steam generation costs arising from fluctuations in natural gas prices as well as life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions. The viability of a solar thermal steam generation system (with and without natural gas back-up) for thermal enhanced oil recovery (TEOR) in heavy-oil sands was evaluated in this study. Using the San Joaquin Valley as a case study, the effectiveness of solar TEOR was quantified through reservoir simulation, economic analysis, and life-cycle assessment of oil-recovery operations. Reservoir simulation runs with continuous but variable rate steam injection were compared with a base-case Tulare Sand steamflood project. Reservoir properties and well geometries were drawn from the literature. For equivalent average injection rates, comparable breakthrough times and recovery factors of 65% of the original oil in place were predicted, in agreement with simulations in the literature. Daily cyclic fluctuations in steam injection rate do not greatly impact recovery for this reservoir setting. Oil production rates for a system without natural gas back-up to moderate injection rates do, however, show seasonal variation. Economic viability was established using a discounted cash flow model incorporating historical prices and injection/production volumes from the Kern River oil field. This model assumes that present day steam generation technologies could be implemented fully at TEOR startup for Kern River in 1980, for the sake of comparison against conventional steam generators and cogenerators. All natural gas cogeneration and 100% solar fraction scenarios had the largest and nearly equal net present values (NPV) of $12.54 B and $12.55 B, respectively, with production data from 1984 to 2011. Solar fraction refers to the steam provided by solar steam generation. Given its large capital cost, the 100% solar case shows the greatest sensitivity to discount rate and no sensitivity to natural gas price because it is independent of natural gas. Because there are very little emissions associated with day-to-day operations from the solar thermal system, life-cycle emissions for the solar thermal system are significantly lower than conventional systems even when the embodied energy of the structure is considered. Here, we estimate that less than 1 g of CO2/MJ of refined gasoline results from the TEOR stage of production if solar energy provides all steam. By this assessment, solar thermal based or supplemented steam generation systems for TEOR appear to be a preferred alternative, or supplement, to fully conventional systems using natural gas (or higher carbon content fuels), especially in areas with large solar insolation.

Construction of oxygen defects in V2O5 for improved performance in Zn-ion battery and sea water desalination

Three-dimensional multimodal porous graphene-carbonized wood for highly efficient solar steam generation

Biomass-derived three-dimensional robust solar evaporator for efficient steam generation, water purification and salt-resistant desalination

Solar evaporation has emerged as an attractive technology to produce freshwater by utilizing renewable solar energy. However, it remains a huge challenge to develop efficient solar steam generators with good flexibility, low cost and remarkable salt resistance. Herein, we prepare flexible, robust solar membranes by filtration of porous carbon and commercial paper pulp fiber. The porous carbon with well-defined structures is prepared through controlled carbonization of biomass/waste plastics by eutectic salts. We prove the synergistic effect of porous carbon and paper pulp fiber in boosting solar evaporation performance. Firstly, the porous carbon displays a high light absorption, while the paper pulp fiber with good hydrophilicity effectively promotes the transport of water. Secondly, the combination between porous carbon and paper pulp fiber reduces the water vaporization enthalpy by 20%, which is important to significantly improve the evaporation performance. As a proof of concept, the porous carbon/paper pulp fiber membrane possesses a high evaporation rate of 1.8 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 kW m−2 irradiation. Thirdly, the good flexibility and mechanical property of paper pulp fiber enable the solar membrane to work well under extreme conditions (e.g., after 20 cycles of folding/stretching/recovery). Lastly, due to the super-hydrophilicity and superwetting, the hybrid membrane exhibits the exceptional salt resistance and long-term stability in continuous seawater desalination, e.g., for 50 h. Importantly, a large-scale solar desalination device for outdoor experiments is developed to produce freshwater. Consequently, this work provides a new insight into developing advanced flexible solar evaporators with superb performance in seawater desalination.

Enhanced direct steam generation via a bio-inspired solar heating method using carbon nanotube films

Design of stability and cost-effective Ti3C2/cotton architecture for solar steam generation

Regulating ordered structure and multi-functions of zeolite aerogels for solar steam generation and heavy metal ion adsorption