A bioinspired solar evaporator for continuous and efficient desalination by salt dilution and secretion. Issue 33 (16th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Shuqian; Yuan, Yang; Zhang, Wang; Song, Fang; Li, Jinghan; Liu, Qinglei; Gu, Jiajun; Zhang, Di
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 9:Issue 33(2021)
• Page Start: 17985
• Page End: 17993
• Publication Date: 2021-08-16
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d1ta05092c
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : A bioinspired solar evaporator simultaneously realizes high evaporation efficiency, long-term stability and zero liquid discharge in water desalination by combining salt dilution and secretion. Abstract : In recent years, solar interfacial evaporation has been one of the most promising techniques to alleviate freshwater scarcity. However, the salt deposition on the evaporation surface limits the long-term operation of evaporators. Herein, inspired by the salt dilution and secretion mechanisms in halophytes, a solar evaporator with a bundle-cross-layer structured absorber and salt secretion bundles is reported. The unique bundle-cross-layer structure realizes the salt dilution by enhancing the water storage and transport, which enables the absorber to show a high and stable evaporation efficiency of 90.2% over 60 h in brine. More importantly, the salt secretion bundles can completely separate salt crystallization from the absorber by a humidity-controlled salt creeping mechanism. The solar desalination prototype equipped with this evaporator exhibited a stable water collection rate over 600 h of continuous operation, realizing zero liquid discharge in desalination. The study provides new insights into the solar evaporator design and advances other applications such as sea-salt extraction, wastewater treatment, and resource recovery.