Surpassing 2D Photoabsorbers with Palm Fiber Upcycling as Highly Hydrophilic and Low-Cost Photothermal Materials for Improved Water Transport Interfacial Solar Steam Generation

Abstract

Solar steam generation (SSG) has been proposed in the recent years as one of the countermeasures for solving the increasing risk of water scarcity on a global scale. SSG outshines conventional water treatment technologies with solar energy being its primary driving energy as well as its relatively simple system design. Nevertheless, challenges have been addressed for SSG, particularly the low efficiency of steam generation and dubious economic feasibility. In this study, a solar evaporator consisting of lowtemperature carbonized oil palm fibers with integration of polydopamine is used to construct a biomass-based solar evaporator. Owing to the synergistic effect of the wide solar absorption spectrum of the carbonized fiber and highly hydrophilic characteristics of polydopamine, a water evaporation rate of 1.637 kg m −2 h −1 is achieved under 1 sun irradiation. To demonstrate the ability of the as-designed system for water treatment applications, actual lake water and seawater are employed as water reservoirs, and the water purification effect is assessed in terms of total dissolved solids and salinity. This biomassderived evaporator offers a design rationale for cost-effective steam generation via biomass waste upcycling of the oil palm industry, which is advantageous for the scalable setup of the system in water-scarce, impoverished area.

Augmenting Light‐to‐Heat Conversion Through 3D Scalable Palm Fiber for Energy Efficient Photothermal Solar Steam Generation

“…[ 9 ] Our preceding work revealed that palm fiber demonstrated great potential as a photothermal material in SSG applications where it achieves water evaporation rate of up to 1.637 kg m −2 h −1 with the 2 cm × 2 cm 2D morphology. [ 10 ] The feasibility of 3D upscaling for carbonized palm fiber is anticipated because the fiber can be easily deformed, allowing it to be crafted into different varieties of 3D shapes. Herein, carbonized palm fiber (known as c‐fiber thereafter) will be upscaled to two different 3D morphologies which are 3D cone and 3D cup shapes.…”