Cellular Structured CNTs@SiO(2) Nanofibrous Aerogels with Vertically Aligned Vessels for Salt-Resistant Solar Desalination.

The emerging solar desalination technology is considered as one of the most promising strategies to ensure water security. However, with the proceeding of solar desalination, salt crystallization on the surface of solar evaporators caused by increasing salinity of seawater will result in a decrease in the evaporation rate. Thus, it is still challenging to fabricate solar evaporators with superior salt resistance. In this work, elastic ceramic-based nanofibrous aerogels with a cellular architecture are fabricated by the combination of electrospinning and fiber freeze-shaping technologies, which are composed of vertically aligned vessels and porous vessel walls. Under the action of convection and diffusion promoted by this unique cellular architecture, the aerogels exhibit a superior salt-resistance without any salt crystals on the surface of aerogels even in 20% brine and under 6-sun irradiation. Moreover, by virtue of the synergistic effect of the promising structure and light absorbance of carbon nanotubes, aerogels possess a high light absorbance of up to 98% and excellent evaporation performance achieving 1.50 kg m-2 h-1 under 1-sun irradiation. This work may provide a fascinating avenue for the desalination of seawater in a salt-resistance and efficient manner.

Dong X ，Cao L ，Si Y ，Ding B ，Deng H ... -  《-》

Reed Leaves Inspired Silica Nanofibrous Aerogels with Parallel-Arranged Vessels for Salt-Resistant Solar Desalination.

Dong X ，Si Y ，Chen C ，Ding B ，Deng H ... -  《-》

Lamellar Wood Sponge with Vertically Aligned Channels for Highly Efficient and Salt-Resistant Solar Desalination.

Dai X ，Guan H ，Wang X ，Wu M ，Hu J ，Wang X ... -  《-》

Facile preparation of polydimethylsiloxane/carbon nanotubes modified melamine solar evaporators for efficient steam generation and desalination.

Solar driven interfacial evaporation has received extensive attention as a very promising desalination technique to solve the fresh water shortage crisis. However, salt-fouling and poor stability during long-term solar desalination seriously hinder applications of solar evaporators. In addition, most of the reported evaporators rely on expensive materials and complex preparation processes. Here, we report facile preparation of polydimethylsiloxane/carbon nanotubes (PDMS/CNTs) modified melamine solar evaporators for efficient steam generation and desalination. The elastic solar evaporators feature (i) macroporous network with rough skeleton owing to phase separation of PDMS, high solar absorbance (99%) and excellent photothermal performance, low thermal conductivity (0.032 W m-1 K-1), and (iii) unique wettability (hydrophobic upper surface and hydrophilic lower part). Consequently, the evaporators have an evaporation rate of 1.44 kg m-2 h-1 and a solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency of 84% for solar evaporation of deionized water under 1 sun illumination. Interestingly, the evaporators show similar solar evaporation performance for saline water compared to deionized water. Moreover, the evaporators show excellent salt-resistance and stability during long-term continuous solar desalination owing to rapid water replenishment in the evaporators. The evaporators may find practical applications in solar desalination because of the merits of the evaporators and the simple preparation method.

Li Q ，Zhao X ，Li L ，Hu T ，Yang Y ，Zhang J ... -  《-》

Multiscale Synergetic Bandgap/Structure Engineering in Semiconductor Nanofibrous Aerogels for Enhanced Solar Evaporation.

Liu H ，Wu F ，Liu XY ，Yu J ，Liu YT ，Ding B ... -  《-》