Super Hydrophilic Activated Carbon Decorated Nanopolymer Foam for Scalable, Energy Efficient Photothermal Steam Generation, as an Effective Desalination System.

Naila Arshad,Hong Rong Li,Mohamed Sharaf,Muhammad Atif,Mazen Zaindin,Iftikhar Ahmed,Muhammad Firdausi,Xianbao Wang,Shafiq Ahmad,Muhammad Sultan Irshad

doi:10.3390/nano10122510

Abstract

Clean water scarcity is still an intense, prolonged global issue that needs to be resolved urgently. The solar steam generation has shown great potential with a high energy conversion efficiency for clean water production from seawater and wastewater. However, the high evaporation rate of water cannot be preserved due to the inevitable fouling of solar absorbers. Herein, a self-floatable and super hydrophilic solar-driven steam generator composed of activated carbon coated melamine foam (ACM). The deposited ACM photothermal layer exhibits outstanding solar absorption (92%) and an efficient evaporation rate of 1.27 kg m−2 h−1, along with excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (80%) as compared to commercially available primitive solar stills. The open porous assembly of melamine foam equipped with 80% flexibility (0.8 MPa) enabled smooth water transport and sustain heat accumulation within the matrix. The thermal insulation of ACM is 10 times greater than pure water. Moreover, open porous assembly of designed solar-powered steam generator rejects salt ions as well as volatile organic compounds efficiently. The low-cost and facile fabrication of photothermal based water production presents a potential solution to single step drinking water supply from various resources of the sea, the lakes and mixtures of emulsified oil and industrial wastewater.

Highlights

The severe energy crisis and water scarcity have become a global challenge for all humankind over time
Tremendous efforts have been implored to find out excellent photothermal materials with the incorporation of unique characteristics, e.g., ultra-band light absorption, super hydrophilicity, mechanical robustness, porosity, and thermal insulation, etc. [2,18,19,20]
A self-floating and super hydrophilic activated carbon decorated melamine foam (ACM) based solar-driven evaporation system is designed for clean water generation

Summary

Introduction

The severe energy crisis and water scarcity have become a global challenge for all humankind over time. The open porous assembly of water transport channels may lead towards long term efficacy on a commercial scale to avoid weak, fragile nature of devices [2,24,25,26,27] In this contribution, a self-floating and super hydrophilic activated carbon decorated melamine foam (ACM) based solar-driven evaporation system is designed for clean water generation. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are remaining a significant challenge in desalination systems, where inorganic ions could be ejected To cope this issue, several VOCs emulsions were prepared to examine the elimination capability of activated carbon decorated melamine foam (ACM) based solar-driven evaporation system from contaminated water to obtain freshwater. Muddy wastewater was treated via ACM based steam-based generation and obtained from various sources to check the potential for real time application of super hydrophilic and self-floating system to crop freshwater for remote sensing areas

Material Characterization

Open Porous Assembly

Evaporation Efficiency and VOCs Rejection

Desalination and Water Recovery

Conclusions