Hydrophobic Light‐to‐Heat Conversion Membranes with Self‐Healing Ability for Interfacial Solar Heating

TL;DR: In this paper, a novel multi-functional Janus membrane was developed by incorporating solar active RbxWO3@Fe3O4 nanocomposites into recycled triacetate cellulose (rTAC) that used as host matrix and PET as substrate by solution electrospinning.

Abstract: Solar‐driven evaporation for clean water production is currently considered to be one of the most effective and sustainable strategies to alleviate water shortages because of the sustainability, eco‐friendliness, and inexhaustibility of solar energy. Plenty of effort has been paid to developing easy‐to‐follow methods to fabricate the high‐performance photothermal materials for efficient water evaporation. In this manuscript, a facile and general strategy named chemical vapor deposition polymerization (CVDP) to deposit dark PPy coating layer onto various substrates, which acts as a light absorber to efficiently harvest and convert light to heat for solar‐driven interfacial water evaporation, is reported. The obtained PPy‐coated membranes can achieve an outstanding light absorption and show a high stagnation temperature up to 82.3 °C under 1 sun illumination (1 kW m−2). Furthermore, the water evaporation can be accelerated to 1.41 kg m−2 h−1, corresponding to 81.9% on solar conversion efficiency which is comparable to the results of the state‐of‐the‐art photothermal membranes. Due to the moderate reaction conditions, the PPy coating layer can also be deposited onto different porous substrates to meet different water environments. Such novel and effective CVDP strategy for high‐performance photothermal membrane fabrication contributes to the widespread applications in sustainable clean water production.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors designed an ISE with high energy conversion efficiency and shape morphing capability by integrating carbon nanotube (CNT) fillers with a light-responsive shape memory polymer (SMP, cross-linked polycyclooctene (cPCO)).

TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors used an improved thermal-injection method to uniformly grow Tricopper(I) Bismuth Sulfide (Cu3BiS3, CBS) on the surface of Ti3C2 nanosheets in a nonaqueous polar solvent environment.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the flow of water in natural and artificial reservoirs and reduce the vulnerability of people living under water stress to seasonal patterns and increasing probability of extreme events.

TL;DR: New developments in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and the materials and physical sciences may enable step-change approaches to cost-effective, globally scalable systems for solar energy use.

TL;DR: Climate change is expected to accelerate water cycles and thereby increase the available RFWR, which would slow down the increase of people living under water stress; however, changes in seasonal patterns and increasing probability of extreme events may offset this effect.