Biomass-based
photothermal conversion is of great importance for
solar energy utilization toward carbon neutrality. Herein, a hybrid
solar evaporator is innovatively designed via UV-induced printing
of pyrolyzed Kudzu biochar on hydrophilic cotton fabric (KB@CF) to
integrate all parameters in a single evaporator, such as solar evaporation,
salt collection, waste heat recovery for thermoelectricity, sieving
oil emulsions, and water disinfection from microorganisms. The UV-induced
printed fabric demonstrates stronger material adhesion as compared
to the conventional dip-dry technique. The hybrid solar evaporator
gives an enhanced evaporation rate (2.32 kg/m2 h), and
the complementary waste heat recovery system generates maximum open-circuit
voltage (V
out ∼ 143.9 mV) and solar
to vapor conversion efficiency (92%), excluding heat losses under
one sun illumination. More importantly, 99.98% of photothermal-induced
bacterial killing efficiency was achieved within 20 min under 1 kW
m–2 using the hyperthermia effect of Kudzu biochar.
Furthermore, numerical heat-transfer simulations were performed successfully
to analyze the enhanced interfacial heat accumulation (75.3 °C)
and heat flux distribution of the thermoelectric generators under
one sun. We firmly believe that the safe use of bio-polluted invasive
species in hybrid solar-driven evaporation systems eases the environmental
pressure toward carbon neutrality.
Authors' Contribution ZK planned the experiments, performed the statistical analyses, wrote and directed this project. DŞ collected the data and wrote this manuscript. MÖ collected data. ÜÖ performed the statistical analyses. OA revised the manuscript.
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