Biomimetic Design of 3D Fe3O4/V-EVOH Fiber-Based Self-Floating Composite Aerogel to Enhance Solar Steam Generation Performance

作者：Yi Ru Wu, Shanshan Li, Kai Qi Yan, Ming Xia, Qin Cheng, Jia Yan Xu, Shanshan He, Xinlin Zha, Dong Wang, Limin Wu · 发表于：Nano Letters · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c00572 · 被引用次数：25 · 研究领域：Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods、Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems、Membrane Separation Technologies

An interfacial solar steam generation evaporator for seawater desalination has attracted extensive interest in recent years. Nevertheless, challenges still remain in relatively low evaporation rate, unsatisfactory energy conversion efficiency, and salt accumulation. Herein, we have demonstrated a biomimetic bilayer composite aerogel consisting of bottom hydrophilic and vertically aligned EVOH channels and an upper hydrophobic conical Fe 3 O 4 array. Thanks to the design merits, the 3D Fe 3 O 4 /V-EVOH evaporator exhibits a high evaporation rate of ∼2.446 kg m –2 h –1 and an impressive solar energy conversion efficiency of ∼165.5% under 1 sun illumination, which is superior to those of state-of-the-art evaporators reported so far. Moreover, the asymmetrical wettability not only allows the evaporator to self-float on the water but also facilitates the salt ion diffusion in the channels; thus, the evaporator shows no salt crystals on its surface and only a 6% decrease in evaporation performance even after the salt concentration increases from 0 to 10.0 wt %.