Tailoring surface wetting states for ultrafast solar-driven water evaporation

Youhong Guo, Xiao Zhao, Fei Zhao, Zihao Jiao, Xingyi Zhou, Guihua Yu*

*此作品的通讯作者

科研成果: 期刊稿件文章同行评审

277 引用 (Scopus)

摘要

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has significant potential to improve the energy utilization efficiency and provides a means for sustainable seawater desalination and water purification technologies. Although rational design of evaporative materials and surfaces is essential to the interfacial solar water vaporization process, tailoring the surface wettability states of solar evaporators to accelerate the vapor generation rate remains unexplored. Here we demonstrate hydrophilic hydrogel evaporators with hydrophobic island-shaped patches, capable of achieving a record evaporation rate of ∼4.0 kg m-2 h-1 with 93% efficiency under 1 sun irradiation (1 kW m-2). This exceptional high rate results from both wetting regions, which function synergistically. The increased thickness of the water layer in the hydrophilic region leads to the rapid escape of water molecules, while relatively long contact lines promise considerable water evaporation from the hydrophobic region, further contributing to this process. Molecular dynamics simulations provide a consistent outcome on a molecular basis, in which an inhomogeneous surface wetting property could modulate the escape behavior of water molecules to speed the evaporation. Under natural sunlight, a 3D printed portable solar water purification jug using this hydrogel evaporator delivers purified water far above the EPA drinking water standards, highlighting its potential for water purification.

源语言英语
页(从-至)2087-2095
页数9
期刊Energy and Environmental Science
13
7
DOI
出版状态已出版 - 7月 2020
已对外发布

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