Abstract
Solar-powered interfacial vapor generation is considered a promising sustainable energy technology. We use porous TiO2 nanoparticle coated carbon nanotube sponges (CNTS@TiO2) as sunlight absorbers to study solar-powered interfacial vapor generation due to the extremely strong sunlight absorption of CNTs and TiO2. The highly porous structures have great benefits to water transport in the sunlight absorbers. The formation of TiO2 on the sidewalls of CNTs improves the hydrophilicity of the light absorber and wettability of water on the sidewalls of CNTs. The water can rapidly infiltrate the porous CNTS@TiO2 composites. Additionally, the multiple internal reflections in “TiO2 forest” greatly reduce the diffused reflection and thus enhance sunlight absorption. The CNTS@TiO2 composites exhibit high sunlight absorption (96.7 %). The efficient water transport and strong light absorption in the porous light absorbers significantly improved the evaporation performance. The CNTS@TiO2 composite with the rhombic TiO2 shows high water evaporation rate of 3.15 ± 0.14 kg m-2 h-1 and energy transfer efficiency of 89.5 ± 3.9 % under 1-sun radiation.
Published Version
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