Localized heating with a photothermal polydopamine coating facilitates a novel membrane distillation process

Wu, Xuanhao; Jiang, Qisheng; Ghim, Deoukchen; Singamaneni, Srikanth; Jun, Young‐Shin

doi:10.1039/c8ta05738a

Cited by 157 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…In the current proof-of-concept work, graphene array-based light absorber is fabricated by plasma-enhanced nanotechnology. With the synergistically combined advantages of heat localization and photothermal MD, the SVGMD system demonstrates a very high energy efficiency of 73.4% at 1 sun [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. According to energy balance and thermal analysis on the SVGMD system, the total heat loss (including the convection and radiation heat loss to the adjacent environment, and the conductive heat loss to bulk water) is only~ 10% of the incident energy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, photothermal membrane distillation (MD) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17], introducing polymer membrane into the solar vapour generation systems, has shown a potential to improve the water collection ratio and the solar-water energy efficiency. The membrane acts as a physical barrier to separate vapour from water (only vapour molecules are able to pass through the membrane) [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…graphite oxide nanoflakes, carbon black nanoparticles, and Ag nanoparticles) have been proposed to improve the harvesting of solar energy [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. However, the solar-water energy efficiency in conventional photothermal MD systems typically remains at a relatively low level of 45.0-53.8% [11][12][13][14][15][16][17], which could be attributed to two main reasons. First, conventional systems heat a large volume of feed water, which continuously dissipates heat to adjacent environment and leads to energy loss [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Graphene Array-Based Anti-fouling Solar Vapour Gap Membrane Distillation with High Energy Efficiency

Gong

Yang

et al. 2019

Nano-Micro Lett.

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HIGHLIGHTS• New concept of solar vapour gap membrane distillation (SVGMD) is based on synergizing of nanochannel-guided water transport, localized heating, and membrane separation from feed solution.• First-time introduction of the gap enables long-term stability and non-fouling membrane.• SVGMD exhibits a solar-water energy efficiency higher than state-of-the-art solar vapour systems.ABSTRACT Photothermal membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for desalination and water purification. However, solar-thermal conversion suffers from low energy efficiency (a typical solar-water efficiency of ~ 50%), while complex modifications are needed to reduce membrane fouling. Here, we demonstrate a new concept of solar vapour gap membrane distillation (SVGMD) synergistically combining self-guided water transport, localized heating, and separation of membrane from feed solution. A free-standing, multifunctional light absorber based on graphene array is custom-designed to locally heat the thin water layer transporting through graphene nanochannels. The as-generated vapour passes through a gap and condenses, while salt/contaminants are rejected before reaching the membrane. The high solar-water efficiency (73.4% at 1 sun), clean water collection ratio (82.3%), excellent anti-fouling performance, and stable permeate flux in continuous operation over 72 h are simultaneously achieved. Meanwhile, SVGMD inherits the advantage of MD in microorganism removal and water collection, enabling the solar-water efficiency 3.5 times higher compared to state-of-the-art solar vapour systems. A scaled system to treat oil/seawater mixtures under natural sunlight is developed with a purified water yield of 92.8 kg m −2 day −1 .Our results can be applied for diverse mixed-phase feeds, leading to the next-generation solar-driven MD technology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Graphene Array-Based Anti-fouling Solar Vapour Gap Membrane Distillation with High Energy Efficiency

Gong

Yang

et al. 2019

Nano-Micro Lett.

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“…As a result, Chinese black ink as the solar absorber coating was required to be further stabilized by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique to improve the interfacial adhesion to the substrate and prevent the ink dispersing into the water. [71] Beyond above report, a series of PDA coatings have been developed as the photothermal agents for various applications, including photothermal therapy, [101] photothermal antibacteria, [102] photothermal-assisted MD, [103] photo thermalassisted water evaporation, [104,105] and photothermal-assisted crude oil cleanup. [97][98][99] It is well known that the structure of PDA is similar to eumelanin in organism, and thus it would enable PDA coating with excellent light absorption ability.…”

Section: Black-carbon-based Coatingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

et al. 2019

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Producing affordable freshwater has been considered as a great societal challenge, and most conventional desalination technologies are usually accompanied with large energy consumption and thus struggle with the trade‐off between water and energy, i.e., the water–energy nexus. In recent decades, the fast development of state‐of‐the‐art photothermal materials has injected new vitality into the field of freshwater production, which can effectively harness abundant and clean solar energy via the photothermal effect to fulfill the blue dream of low‐energy water purification/harvesting, so as to reconcile the water–energy nexus. Driven by the opportunities offered by photothermal materials, tremendous effort has been made to exploit diverse photothermal‐assisted water purification/harvesting technologies. At this stage, it is imperative and important to review the recent progress and shed light on the future trend in this multidisciplinary field. Here, a brief introduction of the fundamental mechanism and design principle of photothermal materials is presented, and the emerging photothermal applications such as photothermal‐assisted water evaporation, photothermal‐assisted membrane distillation, photothermal‐assisted crude oil cleanup, photothermal‐enhanced photocatalysis, and photothermal‐assisted water harvesting from air are summarized. Finally, the unsolved challenges and future perspectives in this field are emphasized. It is envisioned that this work will help arouse future research efforts to boost the development of solar‐driven low‐energy water purification/harvesting.

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“…Recently, biomass-derived catecholcontaining compounds have been reported to show efficient photothermal conversion when they are coordinated with metal cations. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] The fabrication of these light-to-thermal materials was convenient, green and cheap. Inspired by this, we now report the successful preparation of new solar-to-thermal materials (termed PCF-n, where n denotes different biomassderived phenolic compounds), which are formed by coordination between natural phenolic substances and Fe 3+ , for use in W-SSGDs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural phenolic compound–iron complexes: sustainable solar absorbers for wood-based solar steam generation devices

et al. 2020

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Wood-based solar steam generation devices (W-SSGDs) show great promise for desalination and wastewater treatment since they are cheap and sustainable. The fabrication of green, sustainable and efficient solar-to-thermal materials for use in W-SSGDs, however, remains a challenge. Here, we have developed coordination complexes between Fe 3+ and naturally occurring phenolic compounds as solarto-thermal materials. The as-prepared solar-to-thermal material prepared by coordinating Fe 3+ with catechin showed wide optical absorbance and efficient conversion efficiency, and was stable under different pH conditions. The good photothermal properties of this as-prepared solar-to-thermal material allowed us to construct a high performance W-SSGD that had a steam generation efficiency of 54.32%and an evaporation rate as high as 0.9204 kg m À2 h À1 .

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Localized heating with a photothermal polydopamine coating facilitates a novel membrane distillation process

Abstract: This study demonstrates a simple, stable, and scalable polydopamine (PDA) coated PVDF membrane for highly efficient solar-driven membrane distillation.

Cited by 157 publications

References 71 publications

Graphene Array-Based Anti-fouling Solar Vapour Gap Membrane Distillation with High Energy Efficiency

Graphene Array-Based Anti-fouling Solar Vapour Gap Membrane Distillation with High Energy Efficiency

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

Natural phenolic compound–iron complexes: sustainable solar absorbers for wood-based solar steam generation devices

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