Space-Confined Seeded Growth of Black Silver Nanostructures for Solar Steam Generation

Abstract

Plasmonic metal nanostructures have attracted considerable attention for solar energy harvesting due to their capability in photothermal conversion. However, the narrow resonant band of the conventional plasmonic nanoparticles greatly limits their application as only a small fraction of the solar energy can be utilized. Herein, a unique confined seeded growth strategy is developed to synthesize black silver nanostructures with broadband absorption in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. Through this novel strategy, assemblages of silver nanoparticles with widely distributed interparticle distances are generated in rod-shaped tubular spaces, leading to strong random plasmonic coupling and accordingly broadband absorption for significantly improved utilization of solar energy. With excellent efficiency in converting solar energy to heat, the resulting black Ag nanostructures can be made into thin films floating at the air/water interface for efficient generation of clean water steam through localized interfacial heating.

Space‐Confined Seeded Growth of Cu Nanorods with Strong Surface Plasmon Resonance for Photothermal Actuation

“…What prevents the widespread use of CuNRs is that they cannot be readily synthesized into uniform samples using conventional colloidal methods owing to the complications involved in the nucleation and growth as discussed above. In this study, we show that this synthetic challenge can be overcome using a space‐confined seeded growth method . In a typical process, uniform FeOOH nanorods with an average dimension of 110×25 nm (AR=4.5) were prepared as templates by direct hydrolysis of FeCl 3 ⋅6 H 2 O in aqueous solution without the involvement of any surfactants (Figure a).…”

Spatial Decoupling of Light Absorption and Scattering Centers in Plasmon-assisted Bubble Column Evaporator for Solar Steam Generation

“…[38] These interparticle couplings referred as hotspots allow electron transfer between particles, resulting in plasmonic oscillation at new characteristic frequencies. [20,39,40] The dynamic assembling of particles at bubble interfaces thereby creates many different SPR modes based on the diverse orientations and connections between particles. As such, the dynamic bubbly system involves distinct advantages: reducing void gaps between particles and improving light absorption by increasing the useful number of photons through the multi-scattering effect between bubbles.…”

“…[52] On the other hand, the rising bubble swarm also serves as a foam thermos mug as that the system prevents the photothermal energy diffusion into around enviroment. [22,40,51] After a few minutes of evaporation, heat generation in SBNW is partly brought away by the upward gas flux, as evidenced by a smaller rising slope, thereby exhibiting a lower interficial temperature than that of the SNW and SW. At the end of evaporation, the interfacial temperature in SBNW surpasses that of pure water again ( Fig. 5a and b) due to the strong light absorption and heat equilibration over the whole column.…”

Design and optimization of solar steam generation system for water purification and energy utilization: A review

“…Many metal nanoparticles, such as Au [22,39], Ag [62,63], Al, Cu and so on, can carry out photothermal conversion because of the surface plasmon resonance. Metal nanoparticles absorb sunlight at specific wavelengths and convert [41], (e) VA-GSM [60]; (f) HNGs [85] it into heat.…”