Coating of Wood with Fe₂O₃-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes by One-Step Combustion for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

Abstract

As the global water shortage becomes increasingly serious, it is highly imperative to develop efficient, renewable, and large-scale water purification devices. Herein, an efficient solar-driven water purification device of wood coated with Fe2O3 nanoparticle-decorated carbon nanotubes (Fe2O3/CNT) is fabricated in only a few seconds by one-step combustion of ferric acetylacetonate in an ambient environment. The thin layer of the Fe2O3/CNT hybrid coated on the upper surface of the wood serves as a solar-light absorber for converting solar energy to thermal energy, while the thermally insulating wood layer with vertically aligned channels endows the device with rapid water upward transport and localizes the generated heat inside the Fe2O3/CNT layer for solar-driven water evaporation. As a result, the wood/Fe2O3/CNT device achieves a high water steam generation capability of 1.42 kg m–2 h–1 along with an excellent evaporation efficiency of 87.2% under 1 sun irradiation, higher than most of the wood-based solar-driven water evaporation device reported. This device is also efficient in the purification of seawaters and wastewaters. This work demonstrates a rapid and facile methodology for large-scale fabrication of wood/Fe2O3/CNT devices for efficient solar-driven water purification.

Facile Construction and Fabrication of a Superhydrophobic and Super Oleophilic Stainless Steel Mesh for Separation of Water and Oil

“…In this immerging-burning process, absolute ethanol was not only used as a solvent to dissolve C 15 H 21 FeO 6 , but also made C 15 H 21 FeO 6 sufficient for burning in air. In the meantime, hydrocarbon moieties and Fe atoms decomposed by C 15 H 21 FeO 6 at high temperatures acted as a source of carbon atoms and catalyst, respectively [ 34 , 35 ]. The hydrocarbon moieties were coated on Fe atoms to form an Fe–C bond [ 36 ].…”

Reduced Graphene Oxide Decorated Cellulose Acetate Filter Evaporators for Highly Efficient Water Evaporation and Purification Driven by Solar Energy and Environmental Energy

“…For a successful solar light-driven water cleaning system, the selection of solarthermal energy conversion materials is crucial because it could strongly absorb solar light and convert the solar energy to thermal energy for speeding up the water evaporation. [11] At present, the commonly used solar-thermal conversion materials include carbon-based materials, [12][13][14][15] organic polymers, [16,17] inorganic semiconductors, [18][19][20] and metal nanoparticles. [21,22] Among these materials, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is well suitable for solar-thermal energy conversion because of its outstanding solar light absorption, high specific surface area, and excellent thermal stability.…”

Sunflower-Stalk-Based Solar-Driven Evaporator with a Confined 2D Water Channel and an Enclosed Thermal-Insulating Cellular Structure for Stable and Efficient Steam Generation

“…10 Ideal ISSG devices should satisfy four requirements: broadband light-harvesting capacity, high photothermal conversion efficiency, rapid water transportation ability, and outstanding thermal management performance. 11,12 Reasonable configuration design and material selection of ISSG devices are critical factors for meeting these requirements and realizing practical applications. 13−16 For instance, Li and co-workers reported a type of two-dimensional (2D) waterchannel-based ISSG device, 17 in which polystyrene foam was used as the thermal insulator and hydrophilic cellulose was covered on the surface of polystyrene foam to serve as a 2D water channel.…”