Photothermal materials for efficient solar powered steam generation

Abstract

Solar powered steam generation is an emerging area in the field of energy harvest and sustainable technologies. The nano-structured photothermal materials are able to harvest energy from the full solar spectrum and convert it to heat with high efficiency. Moreover, the materials and structures for heat management as well as the mass transportation are also brought to the forefront. Several groups have reported their materials and structures as solutions for high performance devices, a few creatively coupled other physical fields with solar energy to achieve even better results. This paper provides a systematic review on the recent developments in photothermal nanomaterial discovery, material selection, structural design and mass/heat management, as well as their applications in seawater desalination and fresh water production from waste water with free solar energy. It also discusses current technical challenges and likely future developments. This article will help to stimulate novel ideas and new designs for the photothermal materials, towards efficient, low cost practical solar-driven clean water production.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

solar stream generation / plasmonics / porous carbon / photothermal materials / solar energy conversion efficiency / water vapor generation rate

References

[1] Shannon M A, Bohn P W, Elimelech M, Georgiadis J G, Marinas B J, Mayes A M. Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades. Nature, 2008, 452(7185): 301–310

[2] Burheim O S, Seland F, Pharoah J G, Kjelstrup S. Improved electrode systems for reverse electro-dialysis and electro-dialysis. Desalination, 2012, 285: 147–152

[3] Mei Y, Tang C Y Y. Recent developments and future perspectives of reverse electrodialysis technology: A review. Desalination, 2018, 425: 156–174

[4] Huyskens C, Helsen J, de Haan A B. Capacitive deionization for water treatment: Screening of key performance parameters and comparison of performance for different ions. Desalination, 2013, 328: 8–16

[5] Greenlee L F, Lawler D F, Freeman B D, Marrot B, Moulin P. Reverse osmosis desalination: Water sources, technology, and today’s challenges. Water Research, 2009, 43(9): 2317–2348

[6] Sobana S, Panda R C. Review on modelling and control of desalination system using reverse osmosis. Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology, 2011, 10(2): 139–150

[7] Alkhudhiri A, Darwish N, Hilal N. Membrane distillation: A comprehensive review. Desalination, 2012, 287: 2–18

[8] García-Rodríguez L, Gomez-Camacho C. Conditions for economical benefits of the use of solar energy in multi-stage flash distillation. Desalination, 1999, 125(1-3): 133–138

[9] Zhao D F, Xue J L, Li S, Sun H, Zhang Q D. Theoretical analyses of thermal and economical aspects of multi-effect distillation desalination dealing with high-salinity wastewater. Desalination, 2011, 273(2-3): 292–298

[10] Alarcón-Padilla D C, Garcia-Rodriguez L. Application of absorption heat pumps to multi-effect distillation: A case study of solar desalination. Desalination, 2007, 212(1-3): 294–302

[11] Farid M, Al-Hajaj A W. Solar desalination with a humidification-dehumidification cycle. Desalination, 1996, 106(1-3): 427–429

[12] Khawaji A D, Kutubkhanah I K, Wie J M. Advances in seawater desalination technologies. Desalination, 2008, 221(1-3): 47–69

[13] Jin H, Lin G, Bai L, Zeiny A, Wen D. Steam generation in a nanoparticle-based solar receiver. Nano Energy, 2016, 28: 397–406

[14] Farokhnia N, Irajizad P, Sajadi S M, Ghasemi H. Rational micro/nanostructuring for thin-film evaporation. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2016, 120(16): 8742–8750

[15] Nagata Y, Usui K, Bonn M. Molecular mechanism of water evaporation. Physical Review Letters, 2015, 115(23): 236102

[16] Gueymard C A. The sun’s total and spectral irradiance for solar energy applications and solar radiation models. Solar Energy, 2004, 76(4): 423–453

[17] Liu G, Xu J, Wang K. Solar water evaporation by black photothermal sheets. Nano Energy, 2017, 41: 269–284

[18] Deng Z, Zhou J, Miao L, Liu C, Peng Y, Sun L, Tanemura S. The emergence of solar thermal utilization: Solar-driven steam generation. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(17): 7691–7709

[19] Meng X, Liu L, Ouyang S, Xu H, Wang D, Zhao N, Ye J. Nanometals for solar-to-chemical energy conversion: From semiconductor-based photocatalysis to plasmon-mediated photocatalysis and photo-thermocatalysis. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(32): 6781–6803

[20] Chen H, Shao L, Li Q, Wang J. Gold nanorods and their plasmonic properties. Chemical Society Reviews, 2013, 42(7): 2679–2724

[21] Lukianova-Hleb E, Hu Y, Latterini L, Tarpani L, Lee S, Drezek R A, Hafner J H, Lapotko D O. Plasmonic nanobubbles as transient vapor nanobubbles generated around plasmonic nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2010, 4(4): 2109–2123

[22] Fang Z, Zhen Y R, Neumann O, Polman A, Garcia de Abajo F J, Nordlander P, Halas N J. Evolution of light-induced vapor generation at a liquid-immersed metallic nanoparticle. Nano Letters, 2013, 13(4): 1736–1742

[23] Neumann O, Urban A S, Day J, Lal S, Nordlander P, Halas N J. Solar vapor generation enabled by nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2013, 7(1): 42–49

[24] Neumann O, Feronti C, Neumann A D, Dong A, Schell K, Lu B, Kim E, Quinn M, Thompson S, Grady N, et al. Compact solar autoclave based on steam generation using broadband light-harvesting nanoparticles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013, 110(29): 11677–11681

[25] Hogan N J, Urban A S, Ayala-Orozco C, Pimpinelli A, Nordlander P, Halas N J. Nanoparticles heat through light localization. Nano Letters, 2014, 14(8): 4640–4645

[26] Guo A, Fu Y, Wang G, Wang X. Diameter effect of gold nanoparticles on photothermal conversion for solar steam generation. RSC Advances, 2017, 7(8): 4815–4824

[27] Wang Z, Liu Y, Tao P, Shen Q, Yi N, Zhang F, Liu Q, Song C, Zhang D, Shang W, et al. Bio-inspired evaporation through plasmonic film of nanoparticles at the air-water interface. Small, 2014, 10(16): 3234–3239

[28] Liu Y, Yu S, Feng R, Bernard A, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Duan H, Shang W, Tao P, Song C, et al. A bioinspired, reusable, paper-based system for high-performance large-scale evaporation. Advanced Materials, 2015, 27(17): 2768–2774

[29] Liu Y, Lou J, Ni M, Song C, Wu J, Dasgupta N P, Tao P, Shang W, Deng T. Bioinspired bifunctional membrane for efficient clean water generation. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(1): 772–779

[30] Yu S, Zhang Y, Duan H, Liu Y, Quan X, Tao P, Shang W, Wu J, Song C, Deng T. The impact of surface chemistry on the performance of localized solar-driven evaporation system. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5(1): 13600

[31] Bae K, Kang G, Cho S K, Park W, Kim K, Padilla W J. Flexible thin-film black gold membranes with ultrabroadband plasmonic nanofocusing for efficient solar vapour generation. Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 10103

[32] Tian L, Luan J, Liu K K, Jiang Q, Tadepalli S, Gupta M K, Naik R R, Singamaneni S. Plasmonic biofoam: A versatile optically active material. Nano Letters, 2016, 16(1): 609–616

[33] Zhou L, Tan Y, Ji D, Zhu B, Zhang P, Xu J, Gan Q, Yu Z, Zhu J. Self-assembly of highly efficient, broadband plasmonic absorbers for solar steam generation. Science Advances, 2016, 2(4): e1501227

[34] Zhou L, Zhuang S, He C, Tan Y, Wang Z, Zhu J. Self-assembled spectrum selective plasmonic absorbers with tunable bandwidth for solar energy conversion. Nano Energy, 2017, 32: 195–200

[35] Liu C, Huang J, Hsiung C E, Tian Y, Wang J, Han Y, Fratalocchi A. High-performance large-scale solar steam generation with nanolayers of reusable biomimetic nanoparticles. Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2017: 1600013

[36] Zhou L, Tan Y, Wang J, Xu W, Yuan Y, Cai W, Zhu S, Zhu J. 3D self-assembly of aluminium nanoparticles for plasmon-enhanced solar desalination. Nature Photonics, 2016, 10(6): 393–398

[37] Wang H, Miao L, Tanemura S. Morphology control of Ag polyhedron nanoparticles for cost-effective and fast solar steam generation. Solar RRL, 2017, 1(3-4): 1600023

[38] Fang J, Liu Q, Zhang W, Gu J, Su Y, Su H, Guo C, Zhang D. Ag/diatomite for highly efficient solar vapor generation under one-sun irradiation. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(34): 17817–17821

[39] Chen F, Gong A S, Zhu M, Chen G, Lacey S D, Jiang F, Li Y, Wang Y, Dai J, Yao Y, et al. Mesoporous, three-dimensional wood membrane decorated with nanoparticles for highly efficient water treatment. ACS Nano, 2017, 11(4): 4275–4282

[40] Fang B, Yang C, Pang C, Shen W, Zhang X, Zhang Y, Yuan W, Liu X. Broadband light absorber based on porous alumina structure covered with ultrathin iridium film. Applied Physics Letters, 2017, 110(14): 141103

[41] Zhang L, Xing J, Wen X, Chai J, Wang S, Xiong Q. Plasmonic heating from indium nanoparticles on a floating microporous membrane for enhanced solar seawater desalination. Nanoscale, 2017, 9(35): 12843–12849

[42] Ghasemi H, Ni G, Marconnet A M, Loomis J, Yerci S, Miljkovic N, Chen G. Solar steam generation by heat localization. Nature Communications, 2014, 5(1): 4449

[43] Yin Z, Wang H, Jian M, Li Y, Xia K, Zhang M, Wang C, Wang Q, Ma M, Zheng Q S, et al. Extremely black vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays for solar steam generation. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9(34): 28596–28603

[44] Selvakumar N, Krupanidhi S B, Barshilia H C. Carbon nanotube-based tandem absorber with tunable spectral selectivity: Transition from near-perfect blackbody absorber to solar selective absorber. Advanced Materials, 2014, 26(16): 2552–2557

[45] Wang X, He Y, Cheng G, Shi L, Liu X, Zhu J. Direct vapor generation through localized solar heating via carbon-nanotube nanofluid. Energy Conversion and Management, 2016, 130: 176–183

[46] Wang Y, Zhang L, Wang P. Self-floating carbon nanotube membrane on macroporous silica substrate for highly efficient solar-driven interfacial water evaporation. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2016, 4(3): 1223–1230

[47] Ito Y, Tanabe Y, Han J, Fujita T, Tanigaki K, Chen M. Multifunctional porous graphene for high-efficiency steam generation by heat localization. Advanced Materials, 2015, 27(29): 4302–4307

[48] Zhang P, Li J, Lv L, Zhao Y, Qu L. Vertically aligned graphene sheets membrane for highly efficient solar thermal generation of clean water. ACS Nano, 2017, 11(5): 5087–5093

[49] Yang J, Pang Y, Huang W, Shaw S K, Schiffbauer J, Pillers M A, Mu X, Luo S, Zhang T, Huang Y, et al. Functionalized graphene enables highly efficient solar thermal steam generation. ACS Nano, 2017, 11(6): 5510–5518

[50] Zhang L, Li R, Tang B, Wang P. Solar-thermal conversion and thermal energy storage of graphene foam-based composites. Nanoscale, 2016, 8(30): 14600–14607

[51] Li X, Xu W, Tang M, Zhou L, Zhu B, Zhu S, Zhu J. Graphene oxide-based efficient and scalable solar desalination under one sun with a confined 2D water path. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016, 113(49): 13953–13958

[52] Jiang Q, Tian L, Liu K K, Tadepalli S, Raliya R, Biswas P, Naik R R, Singamaneni S. Bilayered biofoam for highly efficient solar steam generation. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(42): 9400–9407

[53] Liu K K, Jiang Q, Tadepalli S, Raliya R, Biswas P, Naik R R, Singamaneni S. Wood-graphene oxide composite for highly efficient solar steam generation and desalination. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9(8): 7675–7681

[54] Ren H, Tang M, Guan B, Wang K, Yang J, Wang F, Wang M, Shan J, Chen Z, Wei D, Hierarchical graphene foam for efficient omnidirectional solar-thermal energy conversion. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(38): 1702590

[55] Wang Z, Ye Q, Liang X, Xu J, Chang C, Song C, Shang W, Wu J, Tao P, Deng T. Paper-based membranes on silicone floaters for efficient and fast solar-driven interfacial evaporation under one sun. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(31): 16359–16368

[56] Shi L, Wang Y, Zhang L, Wang P. Rational design of a bi-layered reduced graphene oxide film on polystyrene foam for solar-driven interfacial water evaporation. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(31): 16212–16219

[57] Wang G, Fu Y, Ma X, Pi W, Liu D, Wang X. Reusable reduced graphene oxide based double-layer system modified by polyethylenimine for solar steam generation. Carbon, 2017, 114: 117–124

[58] Zhang Y, Zhao D, Yu F, Yang C, Lou J, Liu Y, Chen Y, Wang Z, Tao P, Shang W, Floating RGO-based black membranes for solar driven sterilization. Nanoscale, 2017, 9(48): 19384–19389

[59] Liu Y, Chen J, Guo D, Cao M, Jiang L. Floatable, self-cleaning, and carbon-black-based superhydrophobic gauze for the solar evaporation enhancement at the air-water interface. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2015, 7(24): 13645–13652

[60] Liu Z, Song H, Ji D, Li C, Cheney A, Liu Y, Zhang N, Zeng X, Chen B, Gao J, Extremely cost-effective and efficient solar vapor generation under nonconcentrated illumination using thermally isolated black paper. Global Chall, 2017, 1(2): 1600003

[61] Xu N, Hu X, Xu W, Li X, Zhou L, Zhu S, Zhu J. Mushrooms as efficient solar steam-generation devices. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(28): 1606762

[62] Xue G, Liu K, Chen Q, Yang P, Li J, Ding T, Duan J, Qi B, Zhou J. Robust and low-cost flame-treated wood for high-performance solar steam generation. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9(17): 15052–15057

[63] Wang J, Liu Z, Dong X, Hsiung C E, Zhu Y, Liu L, Han Y. Microporous cokes formed in zeolite catalysts enable efficient solar evaporation. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(15): 6860–6865

[64] Liu F, Zhao B, Wu W, Yang H, Ning Y, Lai Y, Bradley R. Low cost, robust, environmentally friendly geopolymer-mesoporous carbon composites for efficient solar powered steam generation. Advanced Functional Materials, 2018, 28(47): 1803266

[65] Zhang L, Tang B, Wu J, Li R, Wang P. Hydrophobic light-to-heat conversion membranes with self-healing ability for interfacial solar heating. Advanced Materials, 2015, 27(33): 4889–4894

[66] Wu X, Chen G Y, Zhang W, Liu X, Xu H. A plant-transpiration-process-inspired strategy for highly efficient solar evaporation. Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2017, 1(6): 1700046

[67] Huang X, Yu Y H, de Llergo O L, Marquez S M, Cheng Z. Facile polypyrrole thin film coating on polypropylene membrane for efficient solar-driven interfacial water evaporation. RSC Advances, 2017, 7(16): 9495–9499

[68] Zhao F, Zhou X, Shi Y, Qian X, Alexander M, Zhao X, Mendez S, Yang R, Qu L, Yu G. Highly efficient solar vapour generation via hierarchically nanostructured gels. Nature Nanotechnology, 2018, 13(6): 489–495

[69] Chen Q, Pei Z, Xu Y, Li Z, Yang Y, Wei Y, Ji Y. A durable monolithic polymer foam for efficient solar steam generation. Chemical Science (Cambridge), 2018, 9(3): 623–628

[70] Nikitenko S I, Chave T, Cau C, Brau H P, Flaud V. Photothermal hydrogen production using noble-metal-free Ti@TiO₂ core-shell nanoparticles under visible-NIR light irradiation. ACS Catalysis, 2015, 5(8): 4790–4795

[71] Zhou Y, Doronkin D E, Zhao Z, Plessow P N, Jelic J, Detlefs B, Pruessmann T, Studt F, Grunwaldt J D. Photothermal catalysis over nonplasmonic Pt/TiO₂ studied by operando hERFD-XANES, resonant XES, and DRIFTS. ACS Catalysis, 2018, 8(12): 11398–11406

[72] Zhao Y, Waterhouse G I N, Chen G, Xiong X, Wu L Z, Tung C H, Zhang T. Two-dimensional-related catalytic materials for solar-driven conversion of COx into valuable chemical feedstocks. Chemical Society Reviews, 2019, 48(7): 1972–2010

[73] Xu C, Huang W, Li Z, Deng B, Zhang Y, Ni M, Cen K. Photothermal coupling factor achieving CO₂ reduction based on palladium-nanoparticle-loaded TiO₂. ACS Catalysis, 2018, 8(7): 6582–6593

[74] Li R, Zhang L, Shi L, Wang P. Mxene Ti₃C₂: An effective 2D light-to-heat conversion material. ACS Nano, 2017, 11(4): 3752–3759

[75] Zhu G, Xu J, Zhao W, Huang F. Constructing black titania with unique nanocage structure for solar desalination. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(46): 31716–31721

[76] Wang J, Li Y, Deng L, Wei N, Weng Y, Dong S, Qi D, Qiu J, Chen X, Wu T. High-performance photothermal conversion of narrow-bandgap Ti₂O₃ nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(3): 1603730

[77] Ye M, Jia J, Wu Z, Qian C, Chen R, O’Brien P G, Sun W, Dong Y, Ozin G A. Synthesis of black tioxnanoparticles by mg reduction of TiO₂ nanocrystals and their application for solar water evaporation. Advanced Energy Materials, 2017, 7(4): 1601811

[78] Ding D, Huang W, Song C, Yan M, Guo C, Liu S. Non-stoichiometric MoO_3–x quantum dots as a light-harvesting material for interfacial water evaporation. Chemical Communications, 2017, 53(50): 6744–6747

[79] Hu X, Xu W, Zhou L, Tan Y, Wang Y, Zhu S, Zhu J. Tailoring graphene oxide-based aerogels for efficient solar steam generation under one sun. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(5): 1604031

[80] Sharma B, Rabinal M K. Plasmon based metal-graphene nanocomposites for effective solar vaporization. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2017, 690: 57–62

[81] Fu Y, Mei T, Wang G, Guo A, Dai G, Wang S, Wang J, Li J, Wang X. Investigation on enhancing effects of Au nanoparticles on solar steam generation in graphene oxide nanofluids. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017, 114: 961–968

[82] Yang X, Yang Y, Fu L, Zou M, Li Z, Cao A, Yuan Q. An ultrathin flexible 2D membrane based on single-walled nanotube-MoS₂ hybrid film for high-performance solar steam generation. Advanced Functional Materials, 2018, 28(3): 1704505

[83] Wang Y C, Wang C Z, Song X J, Megarajan S K, Jiang H Q. A facile nanocomposite strategy to fabricate a rGO-MWCNT photothermal layer for efficient water evaporation. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2018, 6(3): 963–971

[84] Yang Y, Yang X, Fu L, Zou M, Cao A, Du Y, Yuan Q, Yan C H. Two-dimensional flexible bilayer janus membrane for advanced photothermal water desalination. ACS Energy Letters, 2018, 3(5): 1165–1171

[85] Taylor R A, Phelan P E, Adrian R J, Gunawan A, Otanicar T P. Characterization of light-induced, volumetric steam generation in nanofluids. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 2012, 56: 1–11

[86] Lenert A, Wang E N. Optimization of nanofluid volumetric receivers for solar thermal energy conversion. Solar Energy, 2012, 86(1): 253–265

[87] Ni G, Miljkovic N, Ghasemi H, Huang X, Boriskina S V, Lin C T, Wang J, Xu Y, Rahman M M, Zhang T, Volumetric solar heating of nanofluids for direct vapor generation. Nano Energy, 2015, 17: 290–301

[88] Liu Z, Yang Z, Huang X, Xuan C, Xie J, Fu H, Wu Q, Zhang J, Zhou X, Liu Y. High-absorption recyclable photothermal membranes used in a bionic system for high-efficiency solar desalination via enhanced localized heating. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2017, 5(37): 20044–20052

[89] Lou J, Liu Y, Wang Z, Zhao D, Song C, Wu J, Dasgupta N, Zhang W, Zhang D, Tao P, Bioinspired multifunctional paper-based rGO composites for solar-driven clean water generation. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(23): 14628–14636

[90] Yang P, Liu K, Chen Q, Li J, Duan J, Xue G, Xu Z, Xie W, Zhou J. Solar-driven simultaneous steam production and electricity generation from salinity. Energy & Environmental Science, 2017, 10(9): 1923–1927

[91] Chen C, Li Y, Song J, Yang Z, Kuang Y, Hitz E, Jia C, Gong A, Jiang F, Zhu J Y, Highly flexible and efficient solar steam generation device. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(30): 1701756

[92] Ni G, Li G, Boriskina S V, Li H, Yang W, Zhang T, Chen G. Steam generation under one sun enabled by a floating structure with thermal concentration. Nature Energy, 2016, 1(9): 16126

[93] Zhu M, Li Y, Chen F, Zhu X, Dai J, Li Y, Yang Z, Yan X, Song J, Wang Y, Plasmonic wood for high-efficiency solar steam generation. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8(4): 1701028

[94] Li X, Lin R, Ni G, Xu N, Hu X, Zhu B, Lv G, Li J, Zhu S, Zhu J. Three-dimensional artificial transpiration for efficient solar waste-water treatment. National Science Review, 2018, 5(1): 70–77

[95] Wang Y, Wang C, Song X, Huang M, Megarajan S K, Shaukat S F, Jiang H. Improved light-harvesting and thermal management for efficient solar-driven water evaporation using 3D photothermal cones. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 2018, 6(21): 9874–9881

[96] Ni G, Zandavi S H, Javid S M, Boriskina S V, Cooper T A, Chen G. A salt-rejecting floating solar still for low-cost desalination. Energy & Environmental Science, 2018, 11(6): 1510–1519

[97] Zhuang S, Zhou L, Xu W, Xu N, Hu X, Li X, Lv G, Zheng Q, Zhu S, Wang Z, Tuning transpiration by interfacial solar absorber-leaf engineering. Advancement of Science, 2018, 5(2): 1700497

[98] Morciano M, Fasano M, Salomov U, Ventola L, Chiavazzo E, Asinari P. Efficient steam generation by inexpensive narrow gap evaporation device for solar applications. Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 11970

[99] Xue G, Chen Q, Lin S, Duan J, Yang P, Liu K, Li J, Zhou J. Highly efficient water harvesting with optimized solar thermal membrane distillation device. Global Challenges, 2018, 2(5-6): 1800001

[100] Canbazoglu F M, Fan B, Kargar A, Vemuri K, Bandaru P R. Enhanced solar evaporation of water from porous media, through capillary mediated forces and surface treatment. AIP Advances, 2016, 6(8): 085218

[101] Huang Z, Li X, Yuan H, Feng Y, Zhang X. Hydrophobically modified nanoparticle suspensions to enhance water evaporation rate. Applied Physics Letters, 2016, 109(16): 161602

[102] Zeng Y, Wang K, Yao J, Wang H. Hollow carbon beads for significant water evaporation enhancement. Chemical Engineering Science, 2014, 116: 704–709

[103] Cui L, Zhang P, Xiao Y, Liang Y, Liang H, Cheng Z, Qu L. High rate production of clean water based on the combined photo-electro-thermal effect of graphene architecture. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(22): 1706805

[104] Zhu L, Gao M, Peh C K N, Wang X, Ho G W. Self-contained monolithic carbon sponges for solar-driven interfacial water evaporation distillation and electricity generation. Advanced Energy Materials, 2018, 8(16): 1702149

[105] Wang P. Emerging investigator series: The rise of nano-enabled photothermal materials for water evaporation and clean water production by sunlight. Environmental Science: Nano, 2018, 5(5): 1078–1089

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM) (Grant No. 17230732700), the Innovate UK (Grant No. 104013), the institutional strategic grant—Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), that City, University of London, receives from Research England, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Open Access

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2019 The Author(s) 2019. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn