Capillary-driven solar-thermal water desalination using a porous selective absorber

Wang, X.; Hsieh, Mei-Li; Bur, James A.; Lin, Shawn‐Yu; Narayanan, Shankar

doi:10.1016/j.mtener.2020.100453

Cited by 31 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…For this reason, a significant body of research aimed at solving this problem and identifying solutions has been pursued. As one example, desalinization techniques that remove salt from seawater to produce drinkable water have been described [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. This type of strategy is very efficient and can also produce a large quantity of water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired and Post-Functionalized 3D-Printed Surfaces with Parahydrophobic Properties

2021

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Desertification is a growing risk for humanity. Studies show that water access will be the leading cause of massive migration in the future. For this reason, significant research efforts are devoted to identifying new sources of water. Among this work, one of the more interesting strategies takes advantage of atmospheric non-liquid water using water harvesting. Various strategies exist to harvest water, but many suffer from low yield. In this work, we take inspiration from a Mexican plant (Echeveria pulvinate) to prepare a material suitable for future water harvesting applications. Observation of E. pulvinate reveals that parahydrophobic properties are favorable for water harvesting. To mimic these properties, we leveraged a combination of 3D printing and post-functionalization to control surface wettability and obtain parahydrophobic properties. The prepared surfaces were investigated using IR and SEM. The surface roughness and wettability were also investigated to completely describe the elaborated surfaces and strongly hydrophobic surfaces with parahydrophobic properties are reported. This new approach offers a powerful platform to develop parahydrophobic features with desired three-dimensional shape.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired and Post-Functionalized 3D-Printed Surfaces with Parahydrophobic Properties

2021

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“…Furthermore, the surface area, and pore size distribution are important for evaporation of water because the evaporation occurred at the interface between air and water molecule. [ 43 ] The interconnected pores with the specific surface area of 281.33 m 2 g –1 provided the ideal pathway for water transport, [ 44,45 ] while different sized pores helped to improve the optical absorption over broad spectrum of solar energy, which directly affected the higher evaporation rate (see Figure S15 in the Supporting Information). The large surface area of the HBC provided enough sites for evaporation and facilitated vapor escape.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rational Design of a High Performance and Robust Solar Evaporator via 3D‐Printing Technology

Chaule

Hwang

et al. 2021

Advanced Materials

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Utilizing the broad‐band solar spectrum for sea water desalination is a promising method that can provide fresh water without sophisticated infrastructures. However, the solar‐to‐vapour efficiency has been limited due to the lack of a proper design for the evaporator to deal with either a large amount of heat loss or salt accumulation. Here, these issues are addressed via two cost‐effective approaches: I) a rational design of a concave shaped supporter by 3D‐printing that can promote the light harvesting capacity via multiple reflections on the surface; II) the use of a double layered photoabsorber composed of a hydrophilic bottom layer of a polydopamine (PDA) coated glass fiber (GF/C) and a hydrophobic upper layer of a carbonized poly(vinyl alcohol)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVA/PVP) hydrogel on the supporter, which provides competitive benefit for preventing deposition of salt while quickly pumping the water. The 3D‐printed solar evaporator can efficiently utilize solar energy (99%) with an evaporation rate of 1.60 kg m–2 h–1 and efficiency of 89% under 1 sun irradiation. The underlying reason for the high efficiency obtained is supported by the heat transfer mechanism. The 3D‐printed solar evaporator could provide cheap drinking water in remote areas, while maintaining stable performance for a long term.

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“…[ 178 ] The SSA offered notable evaporation rates of 1.10 and 4.22 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 and 4 sun illumination, respectively, superior to those of nonselective graphite absorber (

\overset{α}{true}

{\overset{ε}{true}}_{100^{\circ} C}

≈ 95%). [ 179 ] A graphene–Cu PhC‐based SSA was prepared by laser writing and self‐assembly graphene coating, providing both an

\overset{α}{true}

of 91.9% and an ultralow

\overset{ε}{true}

of 3.8%. The average water evaporation rate of the SSA is measured to be 1.5 kg m −2 h −1 , close to the theoretical limit of the evaporation rate under 1 sun.…”

Section: Current Applications Of Ssas On Solar Steam Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectrally Selective Absorbers/Emitters for Solar Steam Generation and Radiative Cooling‐Enabled Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Lin

Huang

et al. 2020

Global Challenges

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Renewable energy harvesting from the sun and outer space have aroused significant interest over the past decades due to their great potential in addressing the energy crisis. Furthermore, the harvested renewable energy has benefited another global challenge, water scarcity. Both solar steam generation and passive radiative cooling‐enabled atmospheric water harvesting are promising technologies that produce freshwater in green and sustainable ways. Spectral control is extremely important to achieve high efficiency in the two complementary systems based on absorbing/emitting light in a specific wavelength range. For this reason, a broad variety of solar absorbers and IR emitters with great spectral selectivity have been developed. Although operating in different spectral regions, solar selective absorbers and IR selective emitters share similar design strategies. At this stage, it is urgent and necessary to review their progress and figure out their common optical characteristics. Herein, the fundamental mechanisms and recent progress in solar selective absorbers and IR selective emitters are summarized, and their applications in water production are reported. This review aims to identify the importance of selective absorbers/emitters and inspire more research works on selective absorbers/emitters through the summary of advances and the establishment of the connection between solar absorbers and IR emitters.

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Capillary-driven solar-thermal water desalination using a porous selective absorber

Cited by 31 publications

References 51 publications

Bioinspired and Post-Functionalized 3D-Printed Surfaces with Parahydrophobic Properties

Bioinspired and Post-Functionalized 3D-Printed Surfaces with Parahydrophobic Properties

Rational Design of a High Performance and Robust Solar Evaporator via 3D‐Printing Technology

Spectrally Selective Absorbers/Emitters for Solar Steam Generation and Radiative Cooling‐Enabled Atmospheric Water Harvesting

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