Simultaneous solar-driven seawater desalination and continuous oil recovery

Electrochromic electrically conductive Cu3(HHTP)2 films with adaptation to diverse and low-concentration water

“…[17][18][19][20] And, sea water electrolyte has made certain research progress and has been employed in commercial applications in these fields. 21 However, seawater has more large-sized ions relative to lithium ions, and tap water has a relatively low concentration of ions. Therefore, traditional EC materials face limitations due to the narrow lattice spacing of crystal materials and poor electrochemical activity for low-concentration ions.…”

Designing interconnected passages by “legs-to-head” directional U-shape freeze casting to boost solar-driven self-pumping oil spill recovery

“…A new strategy in this domain involves oil skimmers based on the siphon effect. [27][28][29] Such skimmers employ capillary adsorption for self-starting oil recovery, transporting oil from polluted sites to collecting containers using just gravitational energy. Unlike the conventional physical absorption strategies, siphon-assisted oil skimmers eliminate the need for external power sources or manual interference, enabling direct oil recovery from oil-contaminated wastewater in a spontaneous, continuous, low-cost, and environmentally friendly manner.…”

“…Unlike the conventional physical absorption strategies, siphon-assisted oil skimmers eliminate the need for external power sources or manual interference, enabling direct oil recovery from oil-contaminated wastewater in a spontaneous, continuous, low-cost, and environmentally friendly manner. However, a challenge with siphon-assisted oil skimmers lies in their relatively low oil transport rate (generally ∼ 100 L m −2 h −1 ), [27][28][29] especially when compared with other pump-assisted devices (e.g., 500-600 L m −2 h −1 ). 21,25 The ow behavior of liquids driven by siphon effects is critically dependent on the channel structure.…”

Molecular Alignment-Mediated Stick–Slip Poiseuille Flow of Oil in Graphene Nanochannels

“…With the ever-increasing energy demand globally, the development of oil industry has gained extensive attention. , Investigating oil transport in porous materials remains one of the most important topics since understanding the flow behavior of oil is crucial to a wide range of applications including oil exploitation and purification. − Moreover, oil spill and leakage occur frequently during offshore oil production or marine transportation, leading to great economic losses and significant damage to the marine environment. Recovering oil spill also requires fast oil transport in oil skimmers. , Graphene-based materials have been regarded as promising candidates for efficient oil transport and recovery because of their high porosity and oleophilic/hydrophobic features. − For instance, in our prior work, , graphene petal-based oil skimmers with micro- and nano-channels were fabricated to achieve fast continuous oil recovery from oil-contaminated water. However, the underlying physics of oil–graphene interactions remains largely elusive, revealing that the fundamental mechanism is therefore essential to further improve the oil recovery performance of graphene skimmers.…”