Molecular engineering of biomass-derived hybrid hydrogels for solar water purification

Ling Chen; Yang Ding; Jiang Gong; Heng Xie; Jinping Qu; Ran Niu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.145

Molecular engineering of biomass-derived hybrid hydrogels for solar water purification

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Nov 15:626:231-240. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.145. Epub 2022 Jun 27.

Authors

Ling Chen¹, Yang Ding¹, Jiang Gong¹, Heng Xie², Jinping Qu³, Ran Niu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
² Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: hengxie@hust.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Semiconductor Chemistry Center, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: niuran@hust.edu.cn.

PMID: 35797868
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.145

Abstract

Solar evaporation which ultilizes the sustainable solar energy for freshwater production from waste or saline water is one of the most attractive technologies to simultaneously address energy and freshwater crisis. Nevertheless, high energy consumption of water-vapor transformation greatly restricts the practical applications of solar-driven water purification. Herein, we report hybrid hydrogels formed by introducing biomass, starch, and carbon nanotube into hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol in a cost-effective route, used as multifunctional evaporators. The interpenetrating network has good hydrophilicity, fast water transport and adjustable state of water molecules, which reduces the enthalpy of water vaporization to promote the evaporation process. Thus, the obtained hydrogel evaporator possesses an evaporation rate of 2.44 kg m^-2h^-1 with 95% efficiency under one-sun, and is capable of producing clean water from various types of wastewater, including salty, acidic, alkaline and organic polluted water, with long-term durability and stability. It also presents excellent antibacterial, salt resistance and self-cleaning capabilities, suitable for practical applications. More notably, with abundant OH groups from starch, the hybrid hydrogel can effectively adsorb heavy metal ions and organic dyes via formation of chelating and hydrogen bonds. Therefore, this work provides a new approach for portable and cost-effective solar-driven wastewater purification.

Keywords: Adsorption; Antibacterial; Hybrid hydrogel; Interpenetrating network; Solar-driven evaporation.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Hydrogels*
Starch
Sunlight
Water Purification*

Substances

Hydrogels
Starch