Hollow Carbon Fiber Decorated by Nano Structure Surface for High-Efficiency Water Steam Generation

Utilization of carbon materials for harvesting solar energy is a green, feasible, sustainable, and promising way to manufacture freshwater from sewage and seawater. However, sunlight absorption efficiency, light to thermal conversion efficiency, and expensive cost are still limitations for large-scale solar steam generation. Here, a solar steam evaporator which is fabricated by carbonized willow catkins films and activated by different metal chlorides under nitrogen at 800 degrees C is demonstrated. Under the light irradiation intensity of one sun (1000 W m(-2)), water evaporation rate of the prepared evaporator is up to approximate to 2.17 kg m(-2) h(-1), and the surface temperatures reach up to 50 and 91.7 degrees C under water-saturated and dry situations, respectively, indicating good steam generation ability and heat localization performance of the fabricated evaporator. The SEM, BET, DSC, and ICP-MS results show that such a high water evaporation rate of the prepared carbon materials is due to the typical tubular micro-structure, which decreases water enthalpy of evaporation and the water evaporation in the form of molecular clusters. This method of carbonized and activated willow catkins films provides a sustainable way for efficiently harvesting solar energy to produce fresh water from seawater and sewage.

Automated summary

The solar steam evaporator fabricated by carbonized and activated willow catkins films demonstrates good steam generation ability and heat localization performance, providing a sustainable way for efficiently harvesting solar energy to produce fresh water.