Premium
Sunlight‐Driven Water Transport via a Reconfigurable Pump
Author(s) -
Geng Hongya,
Zhou Ke,
Zhou Jiajia,
Ma Hongyun,
Lv Cunjing,
Li Chun,
Xu Zhiping,
Qu Liangti
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201808835
Subject(s) - microchannel , controllability , wetting , contact angle , materials science , graphene , capillary action , oxide , chemical engineering , sunlight , nanotechnology , composite material , optics , physics , mathematics , engineering , metallurgy
Fast and controllable water transport in microchannels has implications for many applications. A combination of stimuli‐responsive asymmetrical changes in the geometry and gradient in the surface wettability offers the possibility to accelerate the transport and realize controllability. Herein, we introduce a meters‐long sunlight‐powered reconfigurable water pump constructed by tubular poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) premixed with chemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO), in which the inner wall is modified with thermal‐sensitive poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel (PNIPAm). This sunlight‐powered water pump delivers a record‐high advance speed of 1.5 mm s −1 and 13.6 kg h −1 m −2 under 1.5 sun. Theoretical and experimental results reveal that the remarkable performance results from the synergistic effect of the contact‐angle gradient arising from the reversible hydrophilic/hydrophobic switch of PNIPAm and the capillary force arising from the geometric deformation of the microchannel.