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Sustainable Solar Evaporation from Solute Surface via Energy Downconversion

ABSTRACT: Abstract Solar?powered interfacial evaporation, a cost?effective and ecofriendly way to obtain freshwater from contaminated water, provides a promising path to ease the global water crisis. However, solute accumulation has severely impacted efficient light?to?heat?to?vapor generation in conventional solar evaporators. Here, it is demonstrated that an interfacial solar thermal photo?vapor generator is an efficient light?to?heat photo?vapor generator that can evaporate water stably in the presence of solute accumulation. An energy downconversion strategy which shifts sunlight energy from visible?near infrared to mid infrared?far infrared bands turns water from transparent to its own absorber, thus changing the fixed evaporation surface (black absorber) in a traditional solar evaporator to a dynamic front (solute surface). Light reflected from the solute can be recycled to drive evaporation. The prototype evaporator can evaporate at a high speed of 1.94 kg m?2 h?1 during a persistent solute accumulation process for 32 h. Such an ability to produce purified water while recycle valuable heavy metals from waste water containing heavy metal ions can inspire more advanced solar?driven water treatment devices. An interfacial solar thermal photo?vapor generator which shifts sunlight energy from visible?near infrared to mid infrared?far infrared bands can enable sustainable and efficient water evaporation from a solute surface as water serves as its own absorber at the dynamic evaporation front (solute layer) and the reflected light can be recycled.

SUBMITTER: Bian Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7788599 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Polyether ether ketone is a bioinert polymer, that is of high interest in research and medicine as an alternative material for the replacement of bone implants made of metal. The biggest deficit of this polymer is its hydrophobic surface, which is rather unfavorable for cell adhesion and thus leads to slow osseointegration. In order to address this drawback, 3D-printed and polymer extruded polyether ether ketone disc samples that were surface-modified with titanium thin films of four different thicknesses via arc evaporation were investigated and compared with non-modified disc samples. Depending on the modification time, the thickness of the coatings ranged from 40 nm to 450 nm. The 3D-printing process does not affect the surface or bulk properties of polyether ether ketone. It turned out that the chemical composition of the coatings obtained did not depend on the type of substrate. Titanium coatings contain titanium oxide and have an amorphous structure. Microdroplets formed on the sample surfaces during treatment with an arc evaporator contain a rutile phase in their composition. Surface modification of the samples via arc evaporation resulted in an increase in the arithmetic mean roughness from 20 nm to 40 nm for the extruded samples and from 40 nm to 100 nm for the 3D-printed samples, with the mean height difference increasing from 100 nm to 250 nm and from 140 nm to 450 nm. Despite the fact that the hardness and reduced elastic modulus of the unmodified 3D-printed samples (0.33 GPa and 5.80 GPa) are higher than those of the unmodified extruded samples (0.22 GPa and 3.40 GPa), the surface properties of the samples after modification are approximately the same. The water contact angles of the polyether ether ketone sample surfaces decrease from 70° to 10° for the extruded samples and from 80° to 6° for the 3D-printed samples as the thickness of the titanium coating increases, making this type of coating promising for biomedical applications.

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Sustainable Solar Evaporation from Solute Surface via Energy Downconversion

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