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High‐Yield and Low‐Cost Solar Water Purification via Hydrogel‐Based Membrane Distillation
Author(s) -
Lu Hengyi,
Shi Wen,
Zhao Fei,
Zhang Wenjing,
Zhang Peixin,
Zhao Chenyang,
Yu Guihua
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202101036
Subject(s) - distillation , membrane distillation , materials science , process engineering , solar energy , portable water purification , yield (engineering) , desalination , membrane , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , environmental science , environmental engineering , chromatography , chemistry , composite material , ecology , biochemistry , engineering , biology
As an eco‐friendly means, solar water purification has attracted substantial research interest regarding material design, system engineering, and energy management. However, the low water yield and relatively high cost essentially restrict its practical potential. Here, a hydrogel‐based ultrathin membrane (HUM) is developed to synergistically coordinate facilitated vapor transfer and environmental energy harvesting for solar‐driven membrane distillation. The evaporation front is directly exposed to an airflow, which fundamentally eliminates the temperature polarization induced energy consumption. As such, the humidity of the output flow is significantly increased, and thus the vapor collection ratio rises to over 80% to achieve a high water yield of 2.4 kg m –2 h –1 under one sun without any energy recycling and cooling accessories. The HUM with a raw material cost of $0.36 m –2 offers a competitive potential cost of freshwater production of about $0.3–1.0 m –3 . This work demonstrates a promising membrane distillation strategy based on sustainable energy toward both decentralized water purification and large‐scale water treatment.