Boosting extraction of Pb in contaminated soil via interfacial solar evaporation of multifunctional sponge

Interfacial solar water evaporation is a reliable way to accelerate water evaporation and contaminant remediation.Embracing the recent advance in photothermal technology,a functional sponge was prepared by coating a sodium alginate(SA)impregnated sponge with a surface layer of reduced graphene oxide(rGO)to act as a photothermal conversion medium and then subsequently evaluated for its ability to enhance Pb extraction from contaminated soil driven by interfacial solar evaporation.The SA loaded sponge had a Pb adsorption capacity of 107.4 mg g^(-1).Coating the top surface of the SA sponge with rGO increased water evaporation performance to 1.81 kg m^(-2)h^(-1)in soil media under one sun illumination and with a wind velocity of 2 m s^(-1).Over 12 continuous days of indoor evaporation testing,the Pb extraction efficiency was increased by 22.0%under 1 sun illumination relative to that observed without illumination.Subsequently,Pb extraction was further improved by 48.9%under outdoor evaporation conditions compared to indoor conditions.Overall,this initial work shows the significant potential of interfacial solar evaporation technologies for Pb contaminated soil remediation,which should also be applicable to a variety of other environmental contaminants.

Micro–Nano Water Film Enabled High‑Performance Interfacial Solar Evaporation

Interfacial solar evaporation holds great promise to address the freshwater shortage.However,most interfacial solar evaporators are always filled with water throughout the evaporation process,thus bringing unavoidable heat loss.Herein,we propose a novel interfacial evaporation structure based on the micro–nano water film,which demonstrates significantly improved evaporation performance,as experimentally verified by polypyrrole-and polydopamine-coated polydimethylsiloxane sponge.The 2D evaporator based on the as-prepared sponge realizes an enhanced evaporation rate of 2.18 kg m^(−2)h^(−1)under 1 sun by fine-tuning the interfacial micro–nano water film.Then,a homemade device with an enhanced condensation function is engineered for outdoor clean water production.Throughout a continuous test for 40 days,this device demonstrates a high water production rate(WPR)of 15.9–19.4 kg kW^(−1)h^(−1)m^(−2).Based on the outdoor outcomes,we further establish a multi-objective model to assess the global WPR.It is predicted that a 1 m^(2)device can produce at most 7.8 kg of clean water per day,which could meet the daily drinking water needs of 3 people.Finally,this technology could greatly alleviate the current water and energy crisis through further large-scale applications.

Recent strategies for constructing efficient interfacial solar evaporation systems

Interfacial solar evaporation(ISE)is a promising technology to relieve worldwide freshwater shortages owing to its high energy conversion efficiency and environmentally sustainable potential.So far,many innovative materials and evaporators have been proposed and applied in ISE to enable highly controllable and efficient solar-to-thermal energy conversion.With rational design,solar evaporators can achieve excellent energy management for lowering energy loss,harvesting extra energy,and efficiently utilizing energy in the system to improve freshwater production.Beyond that,a strategy of reducing water vaporization enthalpy by introducing molecular engineering for water-state regulation has also been demonstrated as an effective approach to boost ISE.Based on these,this article discusses the energy nexus in two-dimensional(2D)and three-dimensional(3D)evaporators separately and reviews the strategies for design and fabrication of highly efficient ISE systems.The summarized work offers significant perspectives for guiding the future design of ISE systems with efficient energy management,which pave pathways for practical applications.

Directionally tailoring micro-nano hierarchical tower structured Mn_(0.6)Ni_(1.4)Co_(2)O_(y) toward solar interfacial evaporation

Solar interfacial evaporation has been considered as a promising method to alleviate fresh water re-sources shortage.The shortage of freshwater resources requires advanced materials that can accelerate the evaporation of water by the sun.However,the simple structure of photothermal materials are vitally restricted by finite light absorption.Herein,this work presents a strategy for the synthesis of a spinel-type micro-nano hierarchical tower structure solar absorbent(Mn_(0.6)Ni_(1.4)Co_(2)O_(y))with the low forbidden band(=1.56 eV)and high absorption(97.88%).The products show great potential in solar-thermal energy conversion by creating a trapping effect.The prepared solar absorbent and epoxy resin are evenly mixed and then fully immersed in polyurethane(PU)sponge for water evaporation.The hydrophilic and porous Mn_(0.6)Ni_(1.4)Co_(2)O_(y)@PU sponge can quickly deliver water upwards,suppress the heat loss,and concentrate the absorbed heat on the evaporation of water.The products exhibited an excellent evaporation rate of 2.261 kg m^(-2) h^(-1) and an impressive evaporation efficiency of 156%under a single sun exposure.Besides,the samples also can maintain the stability and recycling performance for a long time.These findings show that Mn_(0.6)Ni_(1.4)Co_(2)O_(y) have great application prospects in the solar interfacial evaporation.