A polydimethylsiloxane-based sponge for water purification and interfacial solar steam generation

Yahui Cai; Youming Dong; Kaili Wang; Dan Tian; Jiafu Qu; Jundie Hu; Jechan Lee; Jianzhang Li; Ki-Hyun Kim

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.045

A polydimethylsiloxane-based sponge for water purification and interfacial solar steam generation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jan;629(Pt A):895-907. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.045. Epub 2022 Sep 11.

Authors

Yahui Cai¹, Youming Dong¹, Kaili Wang¹, Dan Tian¹, Jiafu Qu², Jundie Hu², Jechan Lee³, Jianzhang Li⁴, Ki-Hyun Kim⁵

Affiliations

¹ Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, No. 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, PR China.
³ Department of Global Smart City & School of Civil, Architectural Engineering, and Landscape Architecture, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, No. 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, PR China; Key Laboratory of Wood-Based Materials Science and Utilization, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35 Tsinghua East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: lijzh@bjfu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kkim61@hanyang.ac.kr.

PMID: 36150267
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.045

Abstract

A better knowledge for the design and synthesis of low-cost, novel porous materials is highly desirable in various fields such as recyclable solar desalination and liquid recycling. Herein, a polydimethylsiloxane-based sponge with a web-like three-dimensional (3D) interconnected porous structure was developed for effective recovery of liquids and the continuous interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG). The sponge is capable of conducting directional transport of oil or organic solvents at temperatures above 32 °C while automatically controlling the desorption of the organic phase below 28 °C. The synergistic combination between high light absorption (above 95 %) and light-to-heat conversion efficiency (99.87 %) resulted in a considerably high seawater evaporation rate (1.66 Kg m^-2h^-1) under 1 sun. The self-regeneration of the evaporator is facilitated by the salt barrier function of the large channels of the smart sponge with high hydraulic conductivity. This sponge can maintain a maximum evaporation rate up to the 5 consecutive days operation with the co-benefit of real-time regeneration and the reversible switching of the wettability. The reusable smart sponge evaporators are highly efficient in generating clean water from seawater with satisfactory ion rejection rates (above 99.6 %). As such, the prepared sponge shows great potential in environmental restoration, metal recovery, and water regeneration.

Keywords: Excellent salt resistance; Interfacial solar steam generation; Polydimethylsiloxane-based sponge; Seawater desalination; Water regeneration.