Thermal Conductive Superhydrophilic 2d Cuo Evaporator for All-Day Solar Driven Steam Generation

Abstract

Solar energy-driven water evaporation is an effective way to obtain clean water through seawater desalination. Due to the cycle of day and night, all-day steam generation is an urgent project. Here, 2D evaporators with effective heat management were designed and constructed by facile folding, in which superhydrophilic CuO coatings with honeycomb-like pores were in situ deposited on brass plates. In the daytime, the 2D evaporator effectively absorbs light for solar-driven desalination with an evaporation rate of 1.4 kg m-2 h-1 and an energy conversion efficiency of 93.1% under 1 sun. Moreover, thanks to the high thermal conductivity of the copper material, the 2D evaporator converts some heat into electricity via the temperature difference between its surfaces. At night, steam is generated through the flexible conversion between thermal energy and electric energy. The evaporation rate reaches 6.4 kg m-2 h-1 at an input voltage of 6 V. The stable evaporation performance of this evaporation system and the advantages of all-day steam generation show considerable prospects and may be widely used in pure water production soon.

Keywords: 2D evaporator, all-day steam generation, superhydrophilic CuO coating, thermal conductivity, thermoelectricity