Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 12, Issue 34, Pages 38512-38521Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c07921
Keywords
solar-thermal energy; plasma-made nanostructures; in-air and in-water oleophobicity; molecular dispersion; solar evaporation; water desalination
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51722604]
- Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LR17E060002]
- China Scholarship Council [201906320205]
- 2019 Zhejiang University Academic Award for Outstanding Doctoral Candidates [2019029]
- Zhejiang University [419004A]
- University of California, Los Angeles
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2019M662048]
- University of Nevada, Reno
- National Science Foundation [1706039, 1937949]
- Australian Research Council
- State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization Open Fund [ZJUCEU2019002]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys [1937949] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Solar desalination that exploits interfacial evaporation represents a promising solution to global water scarcity. Real-world feedstocks (e.g., natural seawater and contaminated water) include oil contamination issues, raising a compelling need for desalination systems that offer anti-oil-fouling capability; however, it is still challenging to prepare oil-repellent and meanwhile water-attracting surfaces. This work demonstrates a concept of molecularly dispersing functional F and Na sites on plasma-made vertically oriented graphene nanosheets to achieve an in-air and in-water oleophobic, hydrophilic surface. The graphene architecture presents high in-air (138 degrees) and in-water (145 degrees) oil contact angles, with simultaneously high water affinity (0 degrees). Such surface wettability is enabled by oleophobic, hydrophobic -CFx, and hydrophilic -COONa groups of the molecules that disperse on graphene surfaces; low-dispersion (0.439 mJ m(-2)) and high-polarity (95.199 mJ m(-2)) components of the solid surface tension; and increased surface roughness produced by graphene edges. The graphene nanostructures pump water upward by capillary action but repel oil from the surface, leading to complete in-water and in-air oil rejection and universal anti-oil-fouling capability for solar desalination. Consequently, stable solar-vapor energy efficiency of more than 85% is achieved regardless of whether the feedstock is pure or oil-contaminated water (e.g., a mixture of oil floating on water, an oil-in-water emulsion), resulting in the efficient production of clean water over several days. This outstanding performance is attributed to the universal (both in-water and in-air) oleophobic wettability, together with high light absorptance contributed by nanotraps, fast interfacial heat transfer enhanced by finlike nanostructures, and accelerated evaporation enabled by sharp graphene edges.
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