Nano-Micro Letters, Volume. 16, Issue 1, 220(2024)
MXene Sediment-Based Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Sodium Alginate Aerogel Evaporator with Vertically Aligned Channels for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation
Solar-driven interfacial evaporation from seawater is considered an effective way to alleviate the emerging freshwater crisis because of its green and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, developing an evaporator with high efficiency, stability, and salt resistance remains a key challenge. MXene, with an internal photothermal conversion efficiency of 100%, has received tremendous research interest as a photothermal material. However, the process to prepare the MXene with monolayer is inefficient and generates a large amount of “waste” MXene sediments (MS). Here, MXene sediments is selected as the photothermal material, and a three-dimensional MXene sediments/poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate aerogel evaporator with vertically aligned pores by directional freezing method is innovatively designed. The vertical porous structure enables the evaporator to improve water transport, light capture, and high evaporation rate. Cotton swabs and polypropylene are used as the water channel and support, respectively, thus fabricating a self-floating evaporator. The evaporator exhibits an evaporation rate of 3.6 kg m-2 h-1 under one-sun illumination, and 18.37 kg m-2 of freshwater is collected in the condensation collection device after 7 h of outdoor sun irradiation. The evaporator also displays excellent oil and salt resistance. This research fully utilizes “waste” MS, enabling a self-floating evaporation device for freshwater collection.
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Tian Wang, Meng Li, Hongxing Xu, Xiao Wang, Mingshu Jia, Xianguang Hou, Shuai Gao, Qingman Liu, Qihang Yang, Mingwei Tian, Lijun Qu, Zhenhua Song, Xiaohu Wu, Lili Wang, Xiansheng Zhang. MXene Sediment-Based Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Sodium Alginate Aerogel Evaporator with Vertically Aligned Channels for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation[J]. Nano-Micro Letters, 2024, 16(1): 220
Category: Research Articles
Received: Feb. 15, 2024
Accepted: Apr. 30, 2024
Published Online: Jan. 23, 2025
The Author Email: Song Zhenhua (songzh@qdu.edu.cn), Wu Xiaohu (xiaohu.wu@iat.cn), Wang Lili (llwang@qdu.edu.cn), Zhang Xiansheng (xshzhang@qdu.edu.cn)