The impact of surface chemistry on the performance of localized solar-driven evaporation system.
This report investigates the influence of surface chemistry (or wettability) on the evaporation performance of free-standing double-layered thin film on the surface of water. Such newly developed evaporation system is composed of top plasmonic light-to-heat conversion layer and bottom porous supporting layer. Under solar light illumination, the induced plasmonic heat will be localized within the film. By modulating the wettability of such evaporation system through the control of surface chemistry, the evaporation rates are differentiated between hydrophilized and hydrophobized anodic aluminum oxide membrane-based double layered thin films. Additionally, this work demonstrated that the evaporation rate mainly depends on the wettability of bottom supporting layer rather than that of top light-to-heat conversion layer. The findings in this study not only elucidate the role of surface chemistry of each layer of such double-layered evaporation system, but also provide additional design guidelines for such localized evaporation system in applications including desalination, distillation and power generation.
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Shengtao
S
Yu
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Yao
Y
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Haoze
H
Duan
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Yanming
Y
Liu
MOE Key Laboratory for Power Machinery and Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Xiaojun
X
Quan
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Peng
P
Tao
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Wen
W
Shang
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Jianbo
J
Wu
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Chengyi
C
Song
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P.R. China.
Tao
T
Deng