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Flexible and Salt Resistant Janus Absorbers by Electrospinning for Stable and Efficient Solar Desalination
Author(s) -
Xu Weichao,
Hu Xiaozhen,
Zhuang Shendong,
Wang Yuxi,
Li Xiuqiang,
Zhou Lin,
Zhu Shining,
Zhu Jia
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201702884
Subject(s) - materials science , desalination , janus , polyacrylonitrile , electrospinning , absorption (acoustics) , chemical engineering , solar energy , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , process engineering , composite material , membrane , polymer , electrical engineering , genetics , engineering , biology
With recent progress in interfacial solar steam generation, direct solar desalination is considered a promising technology for providing a clean water solution through a cost effective and environmental‐friendly pathway. As a high and stable water production rate is the key to enable widespread applications, salt deposition becomes a critical issue that needs to be addressed. Herein, the authors demonstrate that a flexible Janus absorber fabricated by sequential electrospinning can enable stable and efficient solar desalination. Taking advantage of the unique structure of Janus, two functions of steam generation, solar absorption and water pumping, are decoupled into different layers, with an upper hydrophobic carbon black nanoparticles (CB) coating polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer for light absorption, and a lower hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) layer for pumping water. Therefore, salt can only be deposited in the hydrophilic PAN layer and quickly be dissolved because of continuous water pumping. Janus absorber demonstrates high efficiency (72%) and stable water output (1.3 kg m –2 h –1 , over 16 days) under 1‐sun, not achieved in most previous absorbers. With a unique structure design achieved by scalable process, this flexible Janus absorber provides an efficient, stable and portable solar steam generator for direct solar desalination.