Interfacial solar‐driven steam and electricity co‐generation using Hydrangea‐like graphene by salt‐assisted carbonization of waste polylactic acid
Huiyue Wang,
Xueying Wen,
Kuankuan Liu,
Qiuxuan Liu,
Guixin Hu,
Huajian Liu,
Yan She,
Ran Niu,
Tao Tang,
Jiang Gong
Affiliations
Huiyue Wang
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Xueying Wen
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Kuankuan Liu
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Qiuxuan Liu
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Guixin Hu
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Huajian Liu
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Yan She
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Ran Niu
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Tao Tang
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun China
Jiang Gong
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials Semiconductor Chemistry Center School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China
Abstract The interfacial solar steam generation and water evaporation–driven power generation are regarded as promising strategies to address energy crisis. However, it remains challenging to construct low‐cost evaporators for freshwater and electricity co‐generation. Herein, we report a salt‐assisted carbonization strategy of waste polylactic acid to prepare Hydrangea flower–like graphene and build a bi‐functional graphene‐based evaporator. The evaporator presents merits of good sunlight absorption, photo‐to‐thermal conversion property, water transport, good thermal management capability, and negatively charged pores for the continuous diffusion of ions. Hence, it achieves the evaporation rate of 3.0 kg m−2 h−1 and output voltage of 0.425 V, surpassing many advanced evaporators/generators. Molecular dynamics simulation result proves that more Na+ ions are attracted by functional groups, especially –COOH/C–OH, to promote Na+ selectivity in nanochannels. This work offers new opportunities to construct multifunctional evaporators for freshwater and electricity co‐generation.
