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Nanoconfined Water‐Molecule Channels for High‐Yield Solar Vapor Generation under Weaker Sunlight
Author(s) -
Lu Qichen,
Shi Wenxiong,
Yang Haozhou,
Wang Xun
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.202001544
Subject(s) - evaporator , materials science , evaporation , vaporization , distilled water , seawater , water vapor , molecule , vapor pressure , chemical engineering , yield (engineering) , enthalpy , thermodynamics , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , oceanography , heat exchanger , engineering , geology
Solar vapor generation is a promising method to efficiently produce fresh water. However, the insufficient vapor yields under natural daylight restrict its practical applications, and the basic evaporation mechanisms are deficient for reasonable design of evaporator structure. Here, hydrophobic nano‐confined water molecule channels (NCWMCs) are demonstrated, which can reduce the vaporization enthalpy for water evaporation and achieve a record vapor generation rate of 1.25 kg m −2 h −1 under 0.5 sun irradiation. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal the cluster‐evaporation process in the NCWMC system. As a result, the evaporator with NCWMC system can effectively purify seawater and wastewater samples using this environmentally friendly strategy.