Exceptional interfacial solar evaporation via heteromorphic PTFE/CNT hollow fiber arrays

Interfacial solar vapor generation demonstrates great potential for water purification. To facilitate water evaporation processes, materials with high solar-thermal efficiency and low thermal loss are developed. Herein, a heteromorphic arch-like evaporator is presented for exceptional solar-to-steam conversion by designing a versatile heteromorphic array configuration of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hollow fibers decorated with carbon nanotubes (CNT). The arch-like fiber array achieves a 360 degrees evaporation and generates extra thermal energy from the absorptive base (carbon cloth, PS foam and PVDF membrane) by manipulating a fiber array pattern (compact, staircase and spaced). An indoor evaporation rate of 2.15 kg m(-2) h(-1) and outdoor freshwater reclamation of 10-16 kg m(-2) per day can be obtained with multiple fiber staircase arrays using carbon cloth as the base under one sun illumination.

Automated summary

The study presents a heteromorphic arch-like evaporator with a versatile array configuration of PTFE hollow fibers decorated with CNT for efficient solar-to-steam conversion. The indoor evaporation rate of 2.15 kg m(-2) h(-1) and outdoor freshwater reclamation of 10-16 kg m(-2) per day can be achieved with multiple fiber staircase arrays using carbon cloth as the base under one sun illumination.