Highly Elastic Interconnected Porous Hydrogels through Self‐Assembled Templating for Solar Water Purification

Guo, Youhong; Vasconcelos, Luize Scalco de; Manohar, Neha; Geng, Jiafeng; Johnston, Keith P.; Yu, Guihua

doi:10.1002/anie.202114074

Cited by 78 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Photothermal materials with high light absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency characteristics have been developed, including metal nanoparticles, , carbon-based materials, , and semiconductors . Among these, activated carbon (AC), as a typical carbon-based material, is inexpensive, easy to obtain, and porous . Furthermore, it is necessary to further develop solar evaporators with customized surface topography based on the selection of highly efficient photothermal materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel

Chu

Yang

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Interfacial evaporation using light-absorbing hydrogels offers efficient solar evaporation performance under natural sunlight, ensuring an affordable clean water supply. However, achieving light-absorbing hydrogels with durable and efficient utilization is still a challenge due to inevitable salt accumulation, a difficult-to-control surface morphology, and poor mechanical properties on the surfaces of hydrogel-based evaporators. In this work, a photothermal sponge-like hydrogel with a 3D interconnected porous structure was constructed using low-cost activated carbon as a photothermal material, as well as a double-network polymer chain as the basic skeleton using a simple foaming polymerization strategy. The sponge-like hydrogel evaporator showed tailored surface topography, adequate water transport, excellent elasticity and toughness, good salt rejection, and thermal localization properties. Under the irradiation of simulated sunlight (1.0 kW/m2), a high evaporation rate of 2.33 kg·m–2·h–1 was achieved. Furthermore, efficient salt self-cleaning behavior was achieved due to the fast ion diffusion within the 3D interconnected porous structures. Even in highly concentrated brine of 15 wt %, continuous and efficient water evaporation was still achieved. The excellent evaporation and salt rejection properties of this photothermal sponge-like hydrogel indicated its promising long-term sustainable utilization in seawater desalination.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel

Chu

Yang

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…The monolithic design with self‐contained properties (i.e., lightweight, durable, self‐floating, and scalable) synergistically enhance solar energy harvest, recycle latent heat, and minimize energy loss, thereby boosting solar‐to‐vapor conversion. [ 13–21 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The monolithic design with self-contained properties (i.e., lightweight, durable, self-floating, and scalable) synergistically enhance solar energy harvest, recycle latent heat, and minimize energy loss, thereby boosting solar-to-vapor conversion. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] SolÀgel transition and additive manufacturing technologies (i.e., rapid prototyping and 3D printing) are commonly used methods for facile fabrication of aerogels and hydrogels. [22][23][24][25] Despite the current progress, a few roadblocks still lie ahead, which can be generalized as follows.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of Monopile Polymer Foams via Rotating Gas Foaming: Hybrid Applications in Solar‐Powered Interfacial Evaporation and Water Remediation

Qiao

et al. 2022

Solar RRL

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Solar‐powered interfacial evaporation has emerged as an innovative and sustainable technology for clean water production and it has motivated the design and fabrication of monolithic 3D steam generators and related hybrid applications. However, the existing porous and hydrophilic 3D scaffolds fabricated via conventional processing techniques remain one of the main roadblocks toward scalable and mass applications. Herein, a series of closed‐cell 3D polymer foams is developed via a “rotating” gas‐foaming technique. Monopile supporting structures with reticulated and hydrophilic gas pockets are formed in the 3D foams, resulting in controlled shapes and heights, ultralight weight, efficient water diffusion, and optimized solar and environmental energy input. Gratifyingly, the 3D foam with a selected height of 12 cm attains an outstanding water evaporation rate of 5.8 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun. Furthermore, selected photothermal, adsorbent, and photocatalytic materials on the 3D foam introduce water remediation beyond clean water production, exhibiting organic pollutant removal efficiencies over 90% in indoor and outdoor experiments. An ease‐of‐mold approach to shape‐controlled fabrication of polymer foams is demonstrated and their intriguing properties for solar‐powered hybrid applications such as organic pollutant removal in wastewater are highlighted.

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“…The preparation of high-performance photothermal conversion materials and the rational design of the evaporator structure , are the keys to achieving a high evaporation rate and energy efficiency. An ideal photothermal conversion material should have efficient and sufficient light absorption and low reflectivity . Evaporators are selected and designed not only for good hydrophilicity and thermal management capability but also for excellent salt tolerance .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Lignocellulose-Based Sponge Coated with Polypyrrole for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

Yang

Chu

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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Solar evaporative desalination technology is one of the most promising technologies to alleviate freshwater shortages, but the preparation of an inexpensive and sustainable 3D substrate remains a challenge. Lignocellulosic sponge (LS) is a commercial product that is widely available, clean, renewable, degradable, inexpensive, and porous. In this work, LS was found to be a good substrate for photothermal evaporation. LS has good compatibility with polypyrrole (PPy), which has excellent photothermal conversion performance. A simple and effective photothermal conversion evaporator (PPy-LS) was obtained by in situ polymerization of pyrrole on the surface of LS by chemical oxidation. The as-prepared PPy-LS exhibited good light absorption and thermal management capabilities, possessing an evaporation rate of 1.85 kg m −2 h −1 and an evaporation efficiency of 88.65% at 1 sunlight. PPy-LS also had excellent mechanical properties, superhydrophilicity, and water absorption. Combined with its porous network structure, PPy-LS exhibited good salt tolerance in 10 wt % NaCl solution and excellent thermal management capability. The PPy-LS solar evaporation device has the advantages of a simple preparation method, good durability, and sustainability, which provides an important direction for solar interface evaporation.

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Highly Elastic Interconnected Porous Hydrogels through Self‐Assembled Templating for Solar Water Purification

Cited by 78 publications

References 45 publications

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel

Fabrication of Monopile Polymer Foams via Rotating Gas Foaming: Hybrid Applications in Solar‐Powered Interfacial Evaporation and Water Remediation

Sustainable Lignocellulose-Based Sponge Coated with Polypyrrole for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

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