Evaporation Energy Research Articles

Improved Photo-Excited Carriers Transportation of WS2 -O-Doped-Graphene Heterostructures for Solar Steam Generation.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene have revealed promising applications in optoelectronic and energy storage and conversion. However, there are rare reports of modifying the light-to-heat transformation via preparing their heterostructures for solar steam generation. In this work, commercial WS2 and sucrose are utilized as precursors to produce 2D WS2 -O-doped-graphene heterostructures (WS2 -O-graphene) for solar water evaporation. The WS2 -O-graphene evaporators demonstrate excellent average water evaporation rate (2.11kgm-2 h-1 ) and energy efficiency (82.2%), which are 1.3- and 1.2-fold higher than WS2 and O-doped graphene-based evaporators, respectively. Furthermore, for the real seawater with different pH values (pH 1 and 12) and rhodamine B pollutants, the WS2 -O-graphene evaporators show great average evaporation rates (≈2.08 and 2.09kgm-2 h-1 , respectively) for producing freshwater with an extremely low-grade of dye residual and nearly neutral pH values. More interestingly, due to the self-storage water ability of WS2 -O-graphene evaporators, water evaporation can be implemented without the presence of bulk water. As a result, the evaporation rate reaches 3.23kgm-2 h-1 , which is ≈1.5 times higher than the regular solar water evaporation system. This work provides a new approach for preparing 2D transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene heterostructures for efficient solar water evaporation.

FDM 3D-printed volcanic-shaped structure for ultrafast solar-driven interfacial evaporation and efficient energy utilization

In this study, we fabricated a volcanic-shaped 3D solar evaporator for ultrafast solar interfacial evaporation and high-efficient energy utilization by using fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. Benefiting from the multiscale microstructure and polydopamine coating on the evaporation surface, the printed evaporator shows excellent water supply capacity, light utilization, and the Marangoni effect. Adjusting the high/diameter (H/D) ratio of the evaporator can further improve the evaporation performance. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, the optimized 3D evaporation system reaches ultrafast interfacial water evaporation (4.02 kg m−2 h−1) and efficient energy harvesting (220.34 %). Good water supply and the Marangoni effect endow the evaporator with excellent stability and self-cleaning properties against salt deposition for long-time seawater desalination (3.5 wt% NaCl solution). Meanwhile, the prepared 3D evaporator exhibits huge applied potential in the treatment and recycling of organic wastewater, especially the acid solution (pH = 1). The design strategy for the volcanic-shaped 3D evaporator provides novel ideas for developing efficient solar interfacial evaporators.

Construction of hierarchical and porous cellulosic wood with high mechanical strength towards directional Evaporation-driven electrical generation

Tremendous efforts have been dedicated to harvesting energy from the ubiquitous natural water evaporation process. Inspired by the plant's bioelectric phenomenon during the transport of sap from bottom to top, the hierarchically porous cellulosic wood was engineered as the robust carrier for efficiently capturing and transferring water and moisture by removing lignin and hemicellulose, releasing the microscale pore in the cell wall and nanoscale pores in the middle lamella. A conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS), was impregnated in the cellulosic wood, which was further lyophilized to increase the specific surface area and improve the charge transport as an evaporation-driven electrical generator (EEG) with high Young’s modulus. This EEG produces a sustained voltage of around 385 mV and current over 11 μA across the porous and conductive cellulosic wood in a saturated NaCl solution. The anisotropic nature of the cellulosic wood leads to a higher output voltage in the growth direction than in the transverse direction. The driving force behind this energy generation is a self-maintained moisture gradient to generate an ion concentration difference between the output electrodes when the system is exposed to water or moisture. Furthermore, the critical factor of energy generation is the coupling between naturally aligned cellulose microfibrils in wood and water molecule. The generated voltage could be increased by elevating the concentration of ions in the aqueous solution and the temperature difference between the output electrodes. These strong and hierarchical cellulosic wood have a significant potential for electric energy collection through water evaporation and waste heat energy.

Sustainable Interfacial Evaporation System Based on Hierarchical MXene/Polydopamine/Magnetic Phase-Change Microcapsule Composites for Solar-Driven Seawater Desalination.

Solar photothermal-driven interfacial evaporation is a promising technology with great potential for wastewater purification and seawater desalination. However, intermittent solar illumination and salt accumulation are still the major roadblocks of interfacial evaporation in practical applications. Herein, we developed a novel interfacial evaporation system based on the hierarchical MXene/polydopamine (PDA)/magnetic phase-change microcapsule composites (hereafter named "MXene/PDA@TiO2/Fe3O4@C22-HMC") integrated with natural wood. The microcapsule composites were fabricated by microencapsulating n-docosane as a phase-change material (PCM) core in a TiO2/Fe3O4 composite shell and then coating a PDA layer, followed by surface-attaching with MXene nanosheets. The obtained MXene/PDA@TiO2/Fe3O4@C22-HMC exhibits a good optical absorption ability, high heat energy-storage capacity, and good hydrophilicity. This enables the MXene/PDA@TiO2/Fe3O4@C22-HMC-based evaporator to gain a high water evaporation rate of 2.09 kg m-2 h-1 under one-sun illumination. A combination of the microchannels in natural wood and the tiny gap between the microcapsules results in a rapid water transportation within the evaporation system, which effectively resists salt accumulation during the evaporating process. As a result, there was no salt crystal observed from the evaporator surface in a 10 wt % NaCl solution under three-sun illumination for 8 h. More importantly, the introduction of Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the TiO2 shell endows the MXene/PDA@TiO2/Fe3O4@C22-HMC with magnetism, greatly enhancing the reusability and separability of the developed evaporator to undertake multicycle salt accumulation and washing processes for long-term desalination use. The latent heat release of the n-docosane core offers the developed evaporator a large amount of heat energy for continuous evaporation on a semi-cloudy day, increasing the total water production by 1.17 kg m-2 compared to the conventional evaporator without a PCM. This study provides an effective solution for intermittent solar energy utilization and salt accumulation in the solar-driven interfacial evaporation systems of seawater desalination.

Experimental investigation of inclination angle on the snow melting process of heated pavement

Heated pavements can be an effective method melt snow and ice on location where traditional snow plowing device is not practical or feasible. However, the energy use during operation limits the application of the technology. Desired innovations to further optimize the operational energy use may be stimulated by a sound understanding of the magnitude of the involved heat fluxes. In this study estimated these heat fluxes in a laboratory set-up and placed in a large walk-in cold room. Snow was melted on a heated asphalt concrete specimen at an air temperature of −5 °C. The inclination angle of the specimen was varied between 0°, 2° and 4° to vary the run-off of meltwater. The melting time, drying time, run-off and energy consumption was recorded and the different heat fluxes were quantified. It was found that the snow melting time did not vary much between the different inclination angles. However, increased the inclination angle from 0° to 2° and 4° reduced the drying time decreased by 30% and 47%, respectively. In resulting total energy use was reduced by 34% and 49%, respectively. The energy reduction was mainly contributed by using less energy for evaporation of meltwater, which was at 0° the dominating heat flux. Although the relative contributions of the heat fluxes can vary between our study and different real-life snow melting systems, this laboratory study illustrates the importance of effective run-off to maximize the efficiency of heated pavements. Several innovative approaches to minimize the evaporative heat losses are discussed.

A Wave-Driven Piezoelectrical Film for Interfacial Steam Generation: Beyond the Limitation of Hydrogel.

Solar interfacial vapor generation based on low evaporation energy requirements is an effective technology to speed up water purification under natural sunlight, offering great potential to alleviate the current global water crisis. The external electric field and hydrogel are two independent methods enabling low-energy water evaporation. However, the complicated external equipment for generating an electric field and the restricted activation area of hydrogels significantly limit their practical application in steam generation. Thus, a piezoelectric fiber membrane is embedded into a highly hydratable light-absorbing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel for synergistic water activation. The integrated evaporator is capable of continuously converting the wave energy reserved in the ocean into electrical energy, activating the water in the hydrogel. It is found that the activation effect leads to an improvement of over 23% compared to a non-piezoelectric hydrogel evaporator. This work provides an evaporation prototype based on the synergistic water activation of wave-triggered electricity and highly hydratable hydrogel.

Solvation of Large Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Helium: Cationic and Anionic Hexabenzocoronene.

The adsorption of helium on charged hexabenzocoronene (Hbc, C42H18), a planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecule of D6h symmetry, was investigated by a combination of high-resolution mass spectrometry and classical and quantum computational methods. The ion abundance of HenHbc+ complexes versus size n features prominent local anomalies at n = 14, 38, 68, 82, and a weak one at 26, indicating that for these “magic” sizes, the helium evaporation energies are relatively large. Surprisingly, the mass spectra of anionic HenHbc− complexes feature a different set of anomalies, namely at n = 14, 26, 60, and 62, suggesting that the preferred arrangement of the adsorbate atoms depends on the charge of the substrate. The results of our quantum calculations show that the adsorbate layer grows by successive filling of concentric rings that surround the central benzene ring, which is occupied by one helium atom each on either side of the substrate. The helium atoms are fairly localized in filled rings and they approximately preserve the D6h symmetry of the substrate, but helium atoms in partially filled rings are rather delocalized. The first three rings contain six atoms each; they account for magic numbers at n = 14, 26, and 38. The size of the first ring shrinks as atoms are filled into the second ring, and the position of atoms in the second ring changes from hollow sites to bridge sites as atoms are filled into the third ring. Beyond n = 38, however, the arrangement of helium atoms in the first three rings remains essentially frozen. Presumably, another ring is filled at n = 68 for cations and n = 62 for anions. The calculated structures and energies do not account for the difference between charge states, although they agree with the measurements for the cations and show that the first solvation shell of Hbc± is complete at n = 68. Beyond that size, the adsorbate layer becomes three-dimensional, and the circular arrangement of helium changes to hexagonal.

Incandescent lamp design and lifetime

For a vacuum filled tungsten incandescent light bulb using filament length and radius, simple non-empirical equations can predict current vs voltage, power vs voltage, and temperature vs voltage. These equations can be used to predict vacuum filled incandescent bulb lifetime as a function of the evaporation energy of a tungsten atom and temperature.

Heat-transfer analysis of interfacial solar evaporation and effect of surface wettability on water condensation and collection

The use of solar energy for interfacial water evaporation has become a promising roadmap with the global energy and fresh water crisis becoming serious concerns. A systematic study of thermal energy conversion efficiency in interfacial solar evaporation has great significance for improving evaporation efficiency. In this study, an interfacial solar water-evaporation device was proposed, and heat balance analysis were conducted to investigate dominant heat transfer modes for improving the evaporation rate. The results indicate that thermal conduction of the insulation layer accounts for 5% of the input solar energy, and an improvement in the evaporation rate should be focused on reducing the convective heat transfer and radiative loss of the photothermal-layer surface. In addition, a water-collection device was designed to investigate the effect of surface wettability on the water condensation and collection of steam generated by interfacial solar evaporation. It can be found that a hydrophilic wall surface is conducive to steam adhesion and the spread of condensed water droplets, water-film flow, and water discharge; this effectively improves the performance of water collection. The water-collection device which is comprised of hydrophilic side walls and a cover made of ultraclear glass coated with hydrophilic material, can obtain a water-evaporation rate of 8.32 kg·m−2 h−1, water-collection rate of 6.10 kg·m−2 h−1, and water-collection efficiency of 73.21% under ten-sun illumination. The performance of the water-collection device under outdoor conditions was studied and it can be concluded that the evaporation rate and water collection rate can be improved by increasing the irradiation flux on the photothermal layer of the interfacial solar evaporator, or by reducing the effect of outdoor airflow. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the design and performance improvement of solar-driven interfacial water evaporation and collection devices.

Evaluation of a high-performance evaporative cooler-assisted open three-phase absorption thermal energy storage cycle for cooling

Absorption thermal energy storage is promising for long-term storage of solar energy with both cooling and heating output purposes. Recently, the three-phase absorption thermal energy storage attracts significant attention due to its high energy storage density. However, its operation suffers from the vacuum operation and crystals blockage of piping systems, especially for the cooling output scenario. To resolve these issues, a three-phase absorption thermal energy storage in humid air for cooling is proposed, in which the dehumidification via three-phase absorption drives the evaporative cooling. Airflow is used for heat and mass transfer, which avoids vacuum operation and crystal blockage simultaneously. Comprehensive analysis considering the thermodynamic status of both working pair and humid air is carried out, with LiCl-H2O, LiBr-H2O, and CaCl2-H2O. Results showed that high ESD (energy storage density) of 563 kWh/m3 and COP (coefficient of performance) of 1.22 can be achieved under typical summer operating conditions, which are 3.2 and 2.1 times higher than that of the conventional cycle, respectively. Such simultaneous enhancement in ESD and COP has not been achieved by low-grade energy-driven sorption thermal storage yet, showing its great potential in real applications.

Effect of osmotic dehydration pre‐treatments on physicochemical and energy parameters of Kosia (Nashi) pear slices dried in a convective oven

In this study, the effects of osmotic dehydration pre-treatments in sucrose solutions on dried Kosia pear slices were determined. The effective diffusion, modeling, color, rehydration, specific energy consumption, specific moisture extraction rate (SMER), evaporation latent heat, energy efficiency (EE), convective heat (hc), and mass transfer coefficient (hm) parameters of fruit slices were investigated. The shortest drying time (17 h) was observed in the drying process of the samples subjected to osmotic dehydration in 25% sucrose solution for 1 h. The best thin-layer drying models were identified as Lewis (R2: .9977) and Jane-Das (R2: .9977) models. Effective diffusion values ranged between 2.13–4.94 × 10−5 m2 s−1. Rehydration ratios ranged between 2.09 and 2.71 g g−1 while rehydration capacities ranged between 57.24% and 63.05%. The least color change was observed in control samples. SMER values of the dried samples ranged between 0.0062–0.00011 kg kWh−1. EE values ranged between 4.19% and 0.03%. Mass transfer coefficient values varied between 1.57 × 10−8 and 1.06 × 10−12 m/s. Heat transfer coefficient value was calculated as 5.773 × 10−7 W m−2 K. Uncertainty that stems from measurements and cannot be controlled was calculated as ±2.324%. Novelty impact statement High sucrose solution ratios of drying pre-treatments reduced the drying time of Kosia pear slices. Control samples retained their color values better. Samples subjected to osmotic dehydration in 25% sugar solution for 1 h had is the optimum values drying performance and energy parameters.

A Multiscale Porous 3D‐Fabric Evaporator with Vertically Aligned Yarns Enables Ultra‐Efficient and Continuous Water Desalination

AbstractSolar steam generation has emerged as an environment‐friendly and promising strategy to overcome the freshwater and energy crisis. However, simultaneously attaining the satisfied evaporation rate, durability and energy utilization in a single system is challengeable, but crucial to the practical application. Herein, inspired by the carpet weaving technique and benefiting from “fiber–yarn–fabric” hierarchical structures, a 3D fabric evaporator with vertical hemp‐yarn arrays is innovatively constructed, featuring a combined structure of multiscale pores from tunable spacing between adjacent fibers or yarns, the vertically aligned architecture coated with superhydrophilic MXene‐sandwiched layer and the adjustable side height/areas. These structures work cooperatively, surprisingly achieving the integrated functions of excellent light capture, the balanced evaporation area and vapor escape space, the additional energy adsorption from the environment and the salt exchange along or between micro/macro pores. Consequently, the 3D evaporator exhibits an outstanding evaporation rate (3.95 kg m−2 h−1 under one‐sun illumination) and extremely high outdoor evaporation (47.04 kg m−2 for 8 h), accompanied with outstanding salt‐resistance (continuous 120 h in 14% brine without salt accumulation), anti‐oilfouling and anti‐bacterial (efficiency over 99.9%) performances. Finally, through rationally assembling multi‐function modules with a condenser, an all‐in‐one “desalination–thermoelectricity–irrigation” platform is built, realizing the maximum utilization of steam condensation enthalpy.

Fewer Basins Will Follow Their Budyko Curves Under Global Warming and Fossil-Fueled Development.

The Budyko framework consists of a curvilinear relationship between the evaporative ratio (i.e., actual evaporation over precipitation) and the aridity index (i.e., potential evaporation over precipitation) and defines evaporation's water and energy limits. A basin's movement within the Budyko space illustrates its hydroclimatic change and helps identify the main drivers of change. On the one hand, long‐term aridity changes drive evaporative ratio changes, moving basins along their Budyko curves. On the other hand, historical human development can cause river basins to deviate from their curves. The question is if basins will deviate or follow their Budyko curves under the future effects of global warming and related human developments. To answer this, we quantify the movement in the Budyko space of 405 river basins from 1901–1950 to 2051–2100 based on the outputs of seven models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project ‐ Phase 6 (CMIP6). We account for the implications of using different potential evaporation models and study low‐ and high‐emissions scenarios. We find considerable differences of movement in Budyko space regarding direction and intensity when using the two estimates of potential evaporation. However, regardless of the potential evaporation estimate and the scenario used, most river basins will not follow their reference Budyko curves (>72%). Furthermore, the number of basins not following their curves increases under high greenhouse gas emissions and fossil‐fueled development SP585 and across dry and wet basin groups. We elaborate on the possible explanations for a large number of basins not following their Budyko curves.

Stacked Laser-Induced Graphene Joule Heaters for Desalination and Water Recycling

The global scenario of water shortage and pollution has necessitated the use of advanced water treatment and desalination technologies. Solar interfacial evaporation has shown promising results for clean water generation but depends on the sunlight intensity, which changes over time and climatic conditions. Furthermore, the solar-driven interfacial evaporation cannot operate in the dark and is susceptible to salt deposition. Here, we have explored the Joule heating effect in laser-induced graphene (LIG)-based Joule heaters (JHs) for interfacial water evaporation under different applied voltages. The effect of stacking of Joule heaters has been explored and found to give an enhanced evaporation rate with less spatial footprint and energy consumption. The evaporation rate in a single-layer LIG JH reached ∼5 kg·m–2·h–1 under the application of 10 V. The JH area and its stacking effect on evaporation rate, spatial footprint, and energy consumption were investigated. An increase in evaporation rate by seven times and reduction of electrical energy consumption by three times has been demonstrated by three levels of stacking compared to its equivalent triple-area LIG JH. The enhanced performance of the stacking configuration could be due to the enhanced heat transfer from the bottom JH to the upper JH, thermal concentration, and reduced thermal losses to the environment. The single-layer LIG JH also gave ∼2 kg·m–2·h–1 evaporation rate under natural sunlight and environmental conditions, showing potential for solar interfacial evaporation. The JHs also showed excellent resistance to salt deposition with self-salt-cleaning capability under the tested conditions. These compact stacked JH systems could be integrated with renewable energy, which can be operated in the presence and absence of sunlight. Such compact JH systems with a lesser spatial footprint, enhanced evaporation rate, and reduced energy requirement can help in providing constant water evaporation for various applications.

Optimal operation of the evaporator and combustion air distribution system in a pulp mill to maximize biomass recycling and energy efficiency

In the pulping process, the recovery boiler produces “green” steam without the use of fossil fuels as it burns the biomass (black liquor). However, because the black liquor concentration generated during the woodchip cooking is not suitable for combustion, it is concentrated using an evaporator that uses a large amount of steam energy for evaporation. The concentrated black liquor is sprayed to burn in a recovery boiler furnace, and combustion air is simultaneously supplied through an air distribution system. Biomass concentration and combustion air distribution should be optimized to realize sustainable cleaner production by maximizing biomass recycling and energy efficiency. In this study, the optimal operating conditions of the evaporator and combustion air distribution system in a pulp mill were determined simultaneously for biomass recycling and energy efficiency maximization. First, a process model was developed by integrating an evaporator and a recovery boiler furnace with an air distribution system. Using this model, the energy consumption of the evaporator, energy generation in the recovery boiler, and amount of recycled pulping chemicals were predicted for profit and cost estimation. Second, a mathematical model was developed to derive the optimal operating conditions. In this model, the net profit was calculated by subtracting the steam cost in the evaporation process from the profit of steam production and recovered pulping chemicals. Finally, the optimal biomass concentration and combustion air distribution were determined to maximize the net profit. As a result, the derived optimal operating conditions increased the annual power generation by 7,491 MWh/y and the amount of recovered pulping chemicals by 68,602 t/y. In addition, the net profit increased by 11.82%, and the annual CO2 emissions decreased from 2,504 to 1,361 tons, making the pulping process more sustainable. The findings of this study promote cleaner production in the pulping process by substituting fossil fuels with biomass and maximizing energy efficiency.

Interfacial mass and energy transport during steady-state evaporation in liquid oxygen storage tanks

Applications of cryogenic storage systems in aerospace, hydrogen and liquefied natural gas industry has been bloomed in the past decades. The evaporation process of stored cryogenic fluids directly influences the duration or even the safety of the systems. Existing experimental data are insufficient to support a comprehensive insight of cryogenic evaporation in the interfacial region. In the present work, more than 1000 temperature records were measured in the interfacial region of liquid oxygen. The temperature distributions parallel to the liquid–vapor interface was obtained to study the coupled influence of Marangoni convection and thermal conduction on evaporation characteristics. It was found that the temperature was not continuous at the interface, with a maximum temperature difference of 1.11 K. Marangoni convection contributed nearly 80% of the total evaporation energy. A theoretical model was established for interpreting the heat and mass transfer mechanism at liquid oxygen interface. A new correlation for steady-state evaporation of liquid oxygen was proposed, which provided a more convenient way to predict the coefficient of liquid oxygen in CFD applications.

MXene-doped kapok fiber aerogels with oleophobicity for efficient interfacial solar steam generation

Although the evaporation efficiency of photothermal materials (PMs) in pure water and brine solutions has been extensively studied, there few research on the performance in complex oily wastewater. Herein, a new monolithic solar steam generator derived from kapok fiber-based MXene composite aerogel (named as KFs-MXene) was fabricated by dipping the aerogels (KFs) which composed of kapok fiber and sodium alginate (SA) as substrates in the suspension of MXene. Benefitting from the outstanding light absorption (about 97%), better thermal insulation (thermal conductivity, 0.05039 W m−1 K−1), abundant porosity (95.60%) and rapid water transportation. KFs-MXene show good interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) performance, resulting in a high water evaporation rate of 1.47 kg m−2h−1 with an outstanding evaporation efficiency of 90.4% under 1 kW m−2 irradiation. To improve the antifouling performance of KFs-MXene, chemically hydrophilic and oleophobic modification was applied, making the KFs-MXene can also be widely used in oily wastewater. Under 1 kW m−2 illumination, the evaporation rate and energy conversion efficiency of KFs-MXene with hydrophilic and oleophobic modification (O-KFs-MXene) in 1 wt% oily water can reach to 1.40 kg m−2h−1 and 82.87%, and the evaporation efficiency and rate of O-KFs-MXene remain stable in the continuous 6 h solar driven interface evaporation process.

Concentration asymmetry and carbon enrichment in titanium carbide and silicon carbide clusters

The mass spectra of metal clusters obtained by gas aggregation and laser vaporization techniques show variations of the abundance with cluster size, and the best-known manifestation is the magic numbers. The case of nanoalloys adds structural and chemical richness, and asymmetry in the atomic concentrations is sometimes observed. This is the case with ${\mathrm{Ti}}_{x}{\mathrm{C}}_{y}$ and ${\mathrm{Si}}_{x}{\mathrm{C}}_{y}$ clusters, for which the experiments performed until now reveal an enrichment of the clusters in carbon. The structure of the mass spectrum arises when hot clusters evaporate atoms to cool down. By performing density functional calculations, complemented by a thermochemical formalism to obtain Gibbs free energies, we have found that for each cluster in the families ${\mathrm{Ti}}_{x}{\mathrm{C}}_{y}$ and ${\mathrm{Si}}_{x}{\mathrm{C}}_{y}$ with $x$ = 1--4 and $y$ = 1--4, it is easier to remove titanium or silicon atoms as compared to removing carbon atoms, and this explains the carbon enrichment systematically observed in the experiments. The conclusion is that the broad compositional trends expected in the formation of alloy nanoclusters can be anticipated from calculations of the evaporation energies of the alloy components, and this may be particularly interesting in the field of catalysis.

Evaporation thermodynamics and sublimation of aluminum telluride

The analysis of the researches completed by now showed the lack of information concerning the definition of quantity of the vapor pressure values over the molten and crystalline aluminum chalcogenide. In the work presented here, the saturated vapor pressure over liquid and crystalline aluminum sesquitelluride was determined for the first time by the boiling point method (isothermal version). The compound was synthesized from elements, with a purity of 99.99 wt. %, identified by X-ray phase analysis as a monophase Al2Te3 was used as a research object. Certain vapor pressure of liquid Al2Te3 corresponds to the dependence, vapor pressure over crystalline telluride is Based on the values of saturated vapor, the temperature dependence of the Gibbs free energy of evaporation and sublimation was determined, by differentiating which concerning temperature, the entropies of the condensed phase - vapor transformation were calculated, and then the enthalpy. Thermodynamic functions were as follows: entropy of evaporation of the liquid phase - 60.71 ± 4.08 J/(mol K), enthalpy - 98.65 ± 6.64 kJ/mol; entropy of sublimation of the crystalline phase - 69.37 ± 4.67 J/(mol K), enthalpy - 108.73 ± 7.31 kJ/ mol. The low value of entropy of the aluminum telluride transfer to the vapor phase indicates the presence of associates in the vapor and of the congruent character of evaporation and sublimation of Al2Te3 indirectly. Defined as the difference between the sublimation enthalpies and evaporation, the enthalpy of aluminum telluride melting was 10.08 ± 0.68 kJ/mol, the entropy calculated similarly was 8.66 ± 0.58 J/(mol K). The data obtained coincide with the thermodynamic values found by other authors by calorimetric methods.

Carbon-supported nano tungsten bronze aerogels with synergistically enhanced photothermal conversion performance: Fabrication and application in solar evaporation

Solar interfacial evaporation is an effective and sustainable strategy to solve the shortage of fresh water. Nowadays, fully converting the near-infrared light with significant thermal effect, and reducing the energy loss in evaporation stage are the key factors to achieve higher evaporation rate. Herein, the nano cesium tungsten bronze (Cs0.32WO3) with exceptional near-infrared absorption property was loaded on reduced graphene oxide-carbon nanotubes (rGO-CNTs) composite aerogel, drastically enhancing the evaporation efficiency from 61.0% to 85.9%, which can be explained by the remarkable synergistic effect between rGO-CNTs and nano Cs0.32WO3 in improving the photothermal conversion performance. As a result, the solar evaporators assembled by the fabricated rGO-CNTs-Cs0.32WO3 aerogels and corn straw grooves achieved an evaporation rate of 1.93 kg m−2 h−1, exceeding the previously-investigated carbon aerogels/foams, natural plants and tungsten-based compound systems. The characterization results reveal that the loading of nano Cs0.32WO3 contributes to the partial restoration of π-conjugated structure in rGC, increasing solar absorption and the corresponding thermal energy released by the lattice vibration. Meanwhile, the oxygen vacancies and carrier density of Cs0.32WO3 nanoparticles increase after compositing with rGC, which further enhances the local surface plasma resonances (LSPR) effect. Significantly, the hydrophilic functional groups and excellent wettability of composite aerogel and corn straw play crucial effect in accelerating water transport, activating water molecules and reducing evaporation energy consumption. In a word, the unique construction of rGO-CNTs-Cs0.32WO3 aerogels presents a novel approach for the design of solar-driven freshwater production system, the application expansion of nano tungsten bronze and carbon aerogels.