A novel, flexible porous nanofibrous hydrogel interfacial solar evaporator for highly efficient seawater and wastewater purification. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lv, Bowen; Song, Chengwen; Liu, Yanming; Xu, Yuanlu; Fan, Xinfei
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 309:Part 2(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: Solar desalination -- Electrospinning -- Hydrogel -- Salt-resistant -- Wastewater purification; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136818
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Abstract: Solar desalination is recognized as one of the eco-friendly and sustainable ways to alleviate the global freshwater crisis but still requires further research, especially in developing high-performance evaporators. Herein, we prepared an efficient carbon nanotubes (CNTs)@polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibrous hydrogel evaporator by electrospinning and subsequently chemical cross-linking treatment. Due to CNTs with good light absorption capacity, the evaporator exhibited an excellent light absorption capacity (>90%) throughout the full spectrum range (250–2500 nm). Meanwhile, the interconnected pores from electrospinning, as well as the intermediate water in the hydrogel, ensured the prepared evaporator with a favorable evaporation rate of up to 2.16 kg m −2 h −1 and photothermal conversion efficiency of ∼88.13% under one solar light intensity. For long-term seawater desalination, the CNTs@PVA nanofibrous hydrogel evaporator also presented superior salt resistance, durability and good self-cleaning properties. Besides, various non-volatile pollutants can be completely removed by the prepared evaporator during the wastewater purification. As a result, this work is considered to provide a new direction for developing high-performance evaporators to provide freshwater through seawater desalination and wastewater purification. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: An electrospun hydrogel evaporator for high performance interfacial steam generation. High evaporation rate and conversion efficiency on nanofibrous hydrogel evaporator. Long-time scale-free hydrogel evaporator in desalinating high salinity water.