Applications of bio-derived/bio-inspired materials in the field of interfacial solar steam generation

Interfacial solar steam generation(ISSG)system has attracted extensive attention as a sustainable desalination technology because of its cost efficiency and zero fossil-energy consumption.Aiming at optimizing the desalination properties,materials and system design have been the current research focus.Recently,many novel bio-derived/bio-inspired design strategies were proposed owing to their highly efficient structures inherited from nature,which were fine-tuned over eons of evolution,as well as their low cost and ease of treatment.In this review,we are going to systematically report recent progress of various bio-derived/bio-inspired strategies in terms of optical design,wetting,thermal management,and overall system design,presenting an overview of the current challenges of bio-inspired materials in ISSG system and other application fields.This article is intended to provide a comprehensive review of recent developments about bio-derived/bio-inspired materials in ISSG system and conclude with suggestions regarding further research directions for performance enhancement through design of bio-derived/bio-inspired materials.

Magnetic ferrite/carbonized cotton fiber composites for improving electromagnetic absorption properties at gigahertz frequencies

Ferrite/carbon composited materials,especially the bio-derived composited materials possessing both environmental friendliness and outstanding microwave absorption performance,attract numerous attentions for solving the"electromagnetic problem"in the Gigahertz frequency range.In this work,we demonstrate a bio-derived ferrite/carbon material by compositing functional carbonized cotton fibers(CCFs)and Fe_(3)O_(4)nanoparticles with optimized microwave-absorption properties.By adjusting the carbonization conditions systematically,the Fe_(3)O_(4)loading contents and the microwave absorption properties can be varied simultaneously-and,indeed,optimized and tuned.The CCFs-Fe_(3)O_(4)composites exhibited a minimum reflection-loss capacity RL(d B)of-56.8 d B at 10.9 GHz with a thickness of 1.67 mm,and its effective absorption bandwidth(RL(d B)<-20 d B)was found to broaden to 7.1 GHz.Electromagnetic characterizations,coupled with microstructure analyses,revealed that the enhancement in microwave absorption was triggered by the different microstructures of CCFs-Fe_(3)O_(4)composites-attributable to the different carbonization processes.These different conditions result in different amounts of Fe_(3)O_(4)attachment sites and lead to the enhancement of dielectric polarization at localized microstructures.The present work of bio-derived ferrite/carbon materials has important implications in understanding structure-performance relationships in dielectric-magnetic materials,and,meanwhile,could well be extended to a microwave-absorber design approach.