Seawater Desalination by Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation Method Using Plasmonic Heating Nanocomposites

Abstract

With the ever-growing demand in fresh water supply, great efforts have been devoted to developing sustainable systems which could generate fresh water continuously. Solar vapor generation is one of the promising strategies which comprise an unlimited energy source and efficient solar-to-heat generators for overcoming fresh water scarcity. However, current solar vapor generation systems suffer either from inefficient utilization of solar energy or an expensive fabrication process. In this paper, we introduced a nano-plasmonic approach, i.e., a floatable nanocompoiste where copper sulfide nanorods (Cu2-xS NRs) are embedded in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix, for solar-to-vapor generation. A high solar vapor generation efficiency of ~87% and water evaporation rate of 1.270 kg m−2 h−1 were achieved under simulated solar irradiation of 1 sun. With the illumination of natural daylight, seawater was purified using Cu2-xS NRs-PVA gel, with high purity, as distilled drinking water. The plasmonic nanocomposites demonstrated here are easy to fabricate and highly efficient for solar vapor generation, illustrating a potential solution for future seawater desalination.

Water Activation in Solar‐Powered Vapor Generation

“…PVA gel, which has a large number of ─OH hydrophilic groups for water activation, has been widely investigated as a popular crosslinking polymer. [12,61,62,[128][129][130][131][132][133] Yu's team designed a series of SVG systems with excellent performance based on PVA and different absorbers. Owing to the interaction between ─OH of PVA and water molecules, the hydrogen bond of surrounding water molecules was weakened to generate the IW, thus lowering the latent heat of water evaporation.…”

Recent Progress on the Solar‐Driven Interfacial Evaporation Based on Natural Products and Synthetic Polymers

“…PIPs were used for SSG after spraying PPy on the surface of it, and the PPy‐sprayed PIPs had evaporation efficiency of 89.0% even in high‐salinity brine (30 wt%). Li et al [ 178 ] also two kinds of HCPs (C‐[BzMim]Cl‐ co ‐PhH and C‐[BzPy]Br‐ co ‐PhH) using 1‐benzyl‐3‐methyl imidazole chloride ([Bzmim]Cl) and N ‐benzylpyridine bromide ([Bzpy]Br) as monomers, which were used as SSGD by doping carbon black, and the photothermal conversion efficiency was 85.2% (C‐[BzMim]Cl‐ co ‐PhH) and 88.4% (C‐[BzPy]Br‐ co ‐PhH) under 1 sun irradiation, respectively. The heterocyclic conjugated microporous polymer aerogel was prepared by Li [ 179 ] through one‐pot Sonogashira–Hagihara's reaction of 2‐amino‐3,5‐dibromopyridine and 1,3,5‐triethylbenzene.…”