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Solar steam generation through bio-inspired interface heating of broadband-absorbing plasmonic membranes

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  • Wang, Xinzhi
  • He, Yurong
  • Liu, Xing
  • Cheng, Gong
  • Zhu, Jiaqi

Abstract

Efficient solar-enabled evaporation plays a critical role in solar power-based concentration systems, photochemical plants, seawater desalination technologies, etc. However, traditional processes for solar steam generation usually depend on high-temperature heating of the bulk liquid, which requires highly concentrated solar power and suffers from high energy and optical losses. Therefore, the enhancement of solar steam generation by bio-inspired interface solar heating is proposed in this work. In this study, easy-to-prepare, flexible, and reusable plasmonic membranes (PMs) were fabricated for realizing the bio-inspired interface solar heating and continuous steam transportation through the micropores of the membranes. A solar steam generation efficiency of ∼85% was achieved at an illumination power of 10kWm−2. The effects of Au concentration in the membranes and optical power on the steam generation efficiency were systemically studied. The observed high evaporation rate and efficiency were attributed to three main factors: high (∼90%) and broadband solar absorption, efficient photo-thermal conversion due to high plasmon dissipation losses, and fast capillary flow in the membrane micropores. Finally, the application of PMs in a single basin solar still system for seawater desalination was investigated and the PMs exhibited great performance on enhancing the productivity of clean water.

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  • Wang, Xinzhi & He, Yurong & Liu, Xing & Cheng, Gong & Zhu, Jiaqi, 2017. "Solar steam generation through bio-inspired interface heating of broadband-absorbing plasmonic membranes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 414-425.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:195:y:2017:i:c:p:414-425
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.080
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    9. Gong, Biyao & Yang, Huachao & Wu, Shenghao & Tian, Yikuan & Yan, Jianhua & Cen, Kefa & Bo, Zheng & Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken), 2021. "Phase change material enhanced sustained and energy-efficient solar-thermal water desalination," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
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    11. Subhash C. Singh & Mohamed ElKabbash & Zilong Li & Xiaohan Li & Bhabesh Regmi & Matthew Madsen & Sohail A. Jalil & Zhibing Zhan & Jihua Zhang & Chunlei Guo, 2020. "Solar-trackable super-wicking black metal panel for photothermal water sanitation," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 938-946, November.
    12. Huang, Jian & He, Yurong & Chen, Meijie & Wang, Xinzhi, 2019. "Separating photo-thermal conversion and steam generation process for evaporation enhancement using a solar absorber," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 244-252.
    13. Fan, Qi & Wu, Lin & Liang, Yan & Xu, Zhicheng & Li, Yungeng & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D. & Zeng, Mengyuan & Wang, Wei, 2021. "The role of micro-nano pores in interfacial solar evaporation systems – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
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    15. Li, Haoran & He, Yurong & Liu, Ziyu & Jiang, Baocheng & Huang, Yimin, 2017. "A flexible thin-film membrane with broadband Ag@TiO2 nanoparticle for high-efficiency solar evaporation enhancement," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 210-219.
    16. Tsogtbilegt Boldoo & Jeonggyun Ham & Eui Kim & Honghyun Cho, 2020. "Review of the Photothermal Energy Conversion Performance of Nanofluids, Their Applications, and Recent Advances," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-33, November.
    17. Ma, Sainan & Chiu, Chun Pang & Zhu, Yujiao & Tang, Chun Yin & Long, Hui & Qarony, Wayesh & Zhao, Xinhua & Zhang, Xuming & Lo, Wai Hung & Tsang, Yuen Hong, 2017. "Recycled waste black polyurethane sponges for solar vapor generation and distillation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 63-69.
    18. Chen, Meijie & He, Yurong & Wang, Xinzhi & Hu, Yanwei, 2018. "Complementary enhanced solar thermal conversion performance of core-shell nanoparticles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 735-742.
    19. Luo, Xiao & Wu, Dongxu & Huang, Congliang & Rao, Zhonghao, 2019. "Skeleton double layer structure for high solar steam generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1032-1039.
    20. Mehrali, Mohammad & Ghatkesar, Murali Krishna & Pecnik, Rene, 2018. "Full-spectrum volumetric solar thermal conversion via graphene/silver hybrid plasmonic nanofluids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 103-115.
    21. Zhang, Qian & Hu, Run & Chen, Yali & Xiao, Xingfang & Zhao, Guomeng & Yang, Hongjun & Li, Jinhua & Xu, Weilin & Wang, Xianbao, 2020. "Banyan-inspired hierarchical evaporators for efficient solar photothermal conversion," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).

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