Abstract
A facile approach for developing an interfacial solar evaporator by heat localization of solar-thermal energy conversion at water-air liquid composed by in-situ polymerization of Fe2O3 nanoparticles (Fe2O3@PPy) deposited over a facial sponge is proposed. The demonstrated system consists of a floating solar receiver having a vertically cross-linked microchannel for wicking up saline water. The in situ polymerized Fe2O3@PPy interfacial layer promotes diffuse reflection and its rough black surface allows Omni-directional solar absorption (94%) and facilitates efficient thermal localization at the water/air interface and offers a defect-rich surface to promote heat localization (41.9 °C) and excellent thermal management due to cellulosic content. The self-floating composite foam reveals continuous vapors generation at a rate of 1.52 kg m−2 h−1 under one 1 kW m−2 and profound evaporating efficiency (95%) without heat losses that dissipates in its surroundings. Indeed, long-term evaporation experiments reveal the negligible disparity in continuous evaporation rate (33.84 kg m−2/8.3 h) receiving two sun solar intensity, and ensures the stability of the device under intense seawater conditions synchronized with excellent salt rejection potential. More importantly, Raman spectroscopy investigation validates the orange dye rejection via Fe2O3@PPy solar evaporator. The combined advantages of high efficiency, self-floating capability, multimedia rejection, low cost, and this configuration are promising for producing large-scale solar steam generating systems appropriate for commercial clean water yield due to their scalable fabrication.
Highlights
The pitch-black in situ polymerized Fe2 O3 photothermal layer enabled outstanding solar absorption (94%), excellent hydrophilicity, and sustainment under intense operating seawater circumstances (3.5 wt.%, no surface degradation/8.3 h continuous operation)
Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) confirmed heavy metal rejection in condensed water which signifies that its NF potential meets the drinking water standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO)
The self-floating and hydrophilic Fe2 O3 @PPy solar evaporation structure having 25 mm thickness was placed on the water surface filled in a petty dish and was exposed under 1 kW m−2 solar intensity
Summary
An interfacial evaporation strategy was proposed as a solution to sustain heat storage at the air–liquid interface and concurrently reduce heat losses due to radiation, conduction and convection with an output evaporation efficiency of up to ~90%, even under lower optical intensity conditions [19,20] This approach relies on selective heating of the matrix where water entangles with the photothermal layer and evaporates immediately. Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) confirmed heavy metal rejection in condensed water which signifies that its NF potential meets the drinking water standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) This technique lessens the utilization of Fe2 O3 @PPy as photothermal material while achieving high vapor flux. This offers an opportunity to expand the application of solar-thermal devices in compact, stand-alone, and portable systems
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