Hofmeister Effect-Assisted Facile Fabrication of Self-Assembled Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Graphite Composite Sponge-Like Hydrogel for Solar Steam Generation.

The use of hydrogel-based interfacial solar evaporators for desalination is a green, sustainable, and extremely concerned freshwater acquisition strategy. However, developing evaporators that are easy to manufacture, cheap, and have excellent porous structures still remains a considerable challenge. This work proposes a novel strategy for preparing a self-assembling sponge-like poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphite composite hydrogel based on the Hofmeister effect for the first time. The sponge-like hydrogel interfacial solar evaporator (PGCNG) is successfully obtained after combining with graphite. The whole process is environmental-friendly and of low-carbon free of freezing process. The PGCNG can be conventionally dried and stored. PGCNG shows impressive water storage performance and water transmission capacity, excellent steam generation performance and salt resistance. PGCNG has a high evaporation rate of 3.5 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 kW m-2 h-1 solar irradiation and PGCNG demonstrates stable evaporation performance over both 10 h of continuous brine evaporation and 30 cycles of brine evaporation. Its excellent performance and simple, scalable preparation strategy make it a valuable material for practical interface solar seawater desalination devices.

Yang M ，Wu Y ，Chen M ，Wang Y ，Zhang L ，Deng Y ，Ye D ，Zhan Y ，Xiao G ，Jiang X ... -  《-》

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel.

Chu A ，Yang M ，Yang H ，Shi X ，Chen J ，Fang J ，Wang Z ，Li H ... -  《-》

Highly Efficient and Salt-Rejecting Poly(vinyl alcohol) Hydrogels with Excellent Mechanical Strength for Solar Desalination.

Wilson HM ，Lim HW ，Lee SJ 《-》

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 ... -  《-》

Natural lignocellulosic kapok fiber/MXene constructed hydrogel evaporators for high efficiency solar steam generation.

Su Q ，Wu Z ，Huang X ，Yan J ，Tang L ，Xue H ，Gao J ... -  《-》