TY - JOUR
T1 - Aerogel-based solar-powered water production from atmosphere and ocean
T2 - A review
AU - Sun, Jiaming
AU - Wu, Tingting
AU - Wu, Hui
AU - Li, Wei
AU - Li, Lei
AU - Liu, Shouxin
AU - Wang, Jing
AU - Malfait, Wim J.
AU - Zhao, Shanyu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - By imitating natural water circulation, artificial water generation processes can produce clean water by utilizing readily available and inexhaustible solar energy. Such a process can address the current global crises related to both energy and water shortages, and expand currently available water resources from rivers, ground water and ice to seawater, brackish water and atmospheric humidity. Among the many materials used for water generation, aerogels offer a great potential due to the inherent combination of three-dimensional, monolithic structure and porous, interconnected network. In this article, we review aerogel-based water generation from brine and atmospheric water. The unique features of aerogels are elucidated from the viewpoint of photo-thermal conversion and water transport. These two components are necessary to achieve efficient solar-driven water production systems. In addition to describing the material specifications, this paper reviews a diversity of structural designs that aim to improve the evaporation performance, including the assembly strategy of light absorption and thermal insulation layers, the reduction of evaporation enthalpy, and the salt-rejection control, as well as Marangoni effect. After evaluating different types of solar-powered water utilization technologies, the paper ends with the challenges for the commercialization and widespread use of aerogel-based water production systems: their disconnect from the current aerogel industry, high production cost and weak mechanical properties, and a lack of standardized performance testing, as well as our future perspective for their application opportunities.
AB - By imitating natural water circulation, artificial water generation processes can produce clean water by utilizing readily available and inexhaustible solar energy. Such a process can address the current global crises related to both energy and water shortages, and expand currently available water resources from rivers, ground water and ice to seawater, brackish water and atmospheric humidity. Among the many materials used for water generation, aerogels offer a great potential due to the inherent combination of three-dimensional, monolithic structure and porous, interconnected network. In this article, we review aerogel-based water generation from brine and atmospheric water. The unique features of aerogels are elucidated from the viewpoint of photo-thermal conversion and water transport. These two components are necessary to achieve efficient solar-driven water production systems. In addition to describing the material specifications, this paper reviews a diversity of structural designs that aim to improve the evaporation performance, including the assembly strategy of light absorption and thermal insulation layers, the reduction of evaporation enthalpy, and the salt-rejection control, as well as Marangoni effect. After evaluating different types of solar-powered water utilization technologies, the paper ends with the challenges for the commercialization and widespread use of aerogel-based water production systems: their disconnect from the current aerogel industry, high production cost and weak mechanical properties, and a lack of standardized performance testing, as well as our future perspective for their application opportunities.
KW - Aerogel
KW - Atmospheric water
KW - Brine
KW - Solar-driven
KW - Water production
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158821819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.mser.2023.100735
DO - 10.1016/j.mser.2023.100735
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85158821819
SN - 0927-796X
VL - 154
JO - Materials Science and Engineering R: Reports
JF - Materials Science and Engineering R: Reports
M1 - 100735
ER -