Arch-Bridge Photothermal Fabric with Efficient Warp-Direction Water Paths for Continuous Solar Desalination

Yuxin Yang, Daiyi Wang, Wenxi Liao, Haoyue Zeng, Yujian Wu, Luxin Li, Wei Feng, Jie Xue, Hongbin Cao, Jiaqi Chen, Yanyan Huang, Yanyan Zheng, Pan Wang, Jun Liu, Muchun Guo, Huang Zhou, Xing Fan

Advanced Fiber Materials ›› 2024, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (4) : 1026-1036. DOI: 10.1007/s42765-024-00392-x

Arch-Bridge Photothermal Fabric with Efficient Warp-Direction Water Paths for Continuous Solar Desalination

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Abstract

The interfacial solar evaporator is a key technology for eco-friendly desalination, playing a crucial role in alleviating the global water scarcity crisis. However, limitation of photothermal water evaporation efficiency persists due to inadequate water transfer at the water-steam interface. Herein, we present a new type of scalable and recyclable arch bridge photothermal fabric with efficient warp-direction water paths by a convenient shuttle-flying weaving technique. Compared to the previous overall layer-by-layer assembled fabric, our photothermal fabric precisely constructed effective water paths and achieved excellent water-heat distribution at the solar evaporation interface, which greatly improved the photothermal conversion efficiency and evaporation rate. By the design of the weaving process, the photothermal fabric shows a new interface contact mode of the water path fiber and polyaniline photothermal fiber. Besides, the arch-bridge type design not only minimizes heat loss area but also enhances the water evaporation area, resulting in high-efficiency all-weather available solar water evaporation. Furthermore, the results show that the temperature, evaporation rate and solar-vapor conversion efficiency of photothermal fabric can reach above 123 ℃, 2.31 kg m−2 h−1 and 99.93% under a solar illumination of 1 kW m−2. The arch-bridge photothermal fabric with an excellent water evaporation rate has been successfully established, which provides a new paradigm for improving the sustainable seawater desalination rate.

Keywords

Solar evaporator / Arch-bridge / Polyaniline / Photothermal fabric / Evaporation interface / Weaving process

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Yuxin Yang, Daiyi Wang, Wenxi Liao, Haoyue Zeng, Yujian Wu, Luxin Li, Wei Feng, Jie Xue, Hongbin Cao, Jiaqi Chen, Yanyan Huang, Yanyan Zheng, Pan Wang, Jun Liu, Muchun Guo, Huang Zhou, Xing Fan. Arch-Bridge Photothermal Fabric with Efficient Warp-Direction Water Paths for Continuous Solar Desalination. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2024, 6(4): 1026‒1036 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-024-00392-x

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