Fast Water Evaporation from Nanopores

Fast water evaporation is of fundamental importance for natural biological regulation and industry applications. Here, for the first time, it is demonstrated that fast evaporation can be facilely achieved by putting a membrane with perpendicularly ordered pores on the water surface. Compared with the evaporation rate of bulk water, evaporation of water from nanopores is 6.4 to 0.5 times faster at the relative humidity range from 90% to 25%. Additionally, the evaporation rate( )J(nano) exhibits a negative correlation with the pore size and the normalized evaporation rate J(nano)/J(bulk) displays no obvious relation with the liquid species. Further analysis shows that the evaporation enhancement is induced by the enhanced vapor density close to the evaporating surface. These results provide a simple geometrical method for evaporation enhancement and may stimulate new inspirations on phase change phenomena and applications.

Automated summary

Fast evaporation can be achieved by placing a membrane with perpendicularly ordered pores on the water surface. The evaporation rate from nanopores is faster than bulk water, and the enhancement is induced by the increased vapor density near the evaporating surface.