Polymeric materials for solar water purification

Abstract

Solar-based desalination or water purification is regarded as one of the promising solutions to global water scarcity as the only energy input is abundant and sustainable solar light. Interfacial solar vapor generation (SVG), which converts natural sunlight into clean water vapor, has attracted extensive research interests due to its high-energy utilization efficiency and simple implementation. With tunable molecular structures and tailorable physical properties, polymers have demonstrated great potential as candidate materials for solar evaporators. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on polymer materials for solar-powered water purification. First, we present functional polymers with highly tunable molecular composition and morphology as highefficiency solar absorbers. Next, the recent development of various polymeric materials and structural engineering strategies for adequate water supply and efficient thermal management are discussed, along with their excellent desalination and purification performance. Last, we outline the challenges and future directions on the further development of polymer materials for solar water purification technologies.

Ultra-robust, high-adhesive, self-healing, and photothermal zwitterionic hydrogels for multi-sensory applications and solar-driven evaporation

“…Then, with the electron relaxation from the LUMO to the HOMO, energy can be transferred from the excited electrons to vibrational modes within the atomic lattices, resulting in heat release. 66 To deeply understand the photothermal conversion performance of LM@PDA, the IR images of PSBMA-LM@PDA hydrogels with different LM@PDA contents were recorded using an infrared camera under near-infrared NIR irradiation. As illustrated in Fig.…”

“…Then, with the electron relaxation from the LUMO to the HOMO, energy can be transferred from the excited electrons to vibrational modes within the atomic lattices, resulting in heat release. 66…”

Vacuum-Dried and Intrinsic Photothermal Phenolic Carbon Aerogel from Coal Tar Rich in Polycyclic Aromatics for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

“…To further improve the solar steam generation performance of 30%CPCA-500, surface morphology (135° and 90° grooves) and thickness (1.8 and 2.6 cm) were regulated . As shown in Figure d, comparing with 30%CPCA-500, 30%CPCA-500/135° has slight improvement on solar steam generation, while 30%CPCA-500/90° can give obvious enhancement.…”

“…The first key for improving solar steam generation efficiency is to enhance the photothermal conversion. ,, Various materials mainly including semiconductor particles, conjugated polymers, carbon materials, , and plasmonic metal nanoparticles have been used to improve light absorption, among which carbon materials have attracted much attention owing to their high light absorption, highly controllable structure, and Earth-abundancy . As one of carbon materials, carbon aerogels possess many other merits, such as high porosity, tunable density, and excellent thermal insulation, which are suitable for solar steam generation .…”

Ice-Assisted Porous Poly(ionic liquid)/MXene Composite Membranes for Solar Steam Generation

“…15 Thus, based on the criteria of an ideal interfacial solar evaporator such as strong solar-tothermal conversion, high thermal insulation on bulk water, porous structure to transfer water supply, and escape of produced vapors, the combination of PIL with other functional materials would provide a new dimension to broaden the actual application scope of PPCMs, which was previously less explored. 16−18 The ice-templating or freeze-casting processes have been utilized enormously to fabricate a wide variety of porous materials with great potential in several engineering fields 19−21 including energy, 22,23 biomedical, 24 catalysis, 25 and separation. 26 In comparison to other processes, methods using the assistance of freezing the component solution exhibit several unique features, i.e., a variety of porous structures based on the choice of the solvent suspension formulation (e.g., solid content and additives) and the solidification conditions (e.g., temperature gradient and cooling rate).…”