期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2016
卷号:113
期号:49
页码:13953-13958
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1613031113
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:SignificanceDirect solar desalination, which produces desalinated water directly using solar energy with minimum carbon footprint, is considered a promising technology to address the global water scarcity. Here, we report a solar desalination device, with efficient two-dimensional water supply and suppressed thermal loss, which can enable an efficient (80% under one-sun illumination) and effective (four orders salinity decrement) solar desalination. The energy transfer efficiency of this foldable graphene oxide film-based device fabricated by a scalable process is independent of water quantity and can be achieved without optical or thermal supporting systems, therefore significantly improving the scalability and feasibility of this technology toward a complementary portable and personalized water solution. Because it is able to produce desalinated water directly using solar energy with minimum carbon footprint, solar steam generation and desalination is considered one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity. Despite tremendous progress in the past few years, efficient solar steam generation and desalination can only be achieved for rather limited water quantity with the assistance of concentrators and thermal insulation, not feasible for large-scale applications. The fundamental paradox is that the conventional design of direct absorber-bulk water contact ensures efficient energy transfer and water supply but also has intrinsic thermal loss through bulk water. Here, enabled by a confined 2D water path, we report an efficient (80% under one-sun illumination) and effective (four orders salinity decrement) solar desalination device. More strikingly, because of minimized heat loss, high efficiency of solar desalination is independent of the water quantity and can be maintained without thermal insulation of the container. A foldable graphene oxide film, fabricated by a scalable process, serves as efficient solar absorbers (>94%), vapor channels, and thermal insulators. With unique structure designs fabricated by scalable processes and high and stable efficiency achieved under normal solar illumination independent of water quantity without any supporting systems, our device represents a concrete step for solar desalination to emerge as a complementary portable and personalized clean water solution.
关键词:graphene oxide ; solar steam ; 2D water path ; solar desalination ; heat localization