The Experts below are selected from a list of 7164 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Yurong He - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Enhanced interfacial solar Steam Generation with composite reduced graphene oxide membrane
Solar Energy, 2019Co-Authors: Gong Cheng, Xinzhi Wang, Yurong He, Boris V. BalakinAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation, as a high efficiency photo-thermal conversion method, has enormous potential for many industrial applications. In this work, a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite membrane with high light absorption was prepared to enhance the Steam Generation of water successfully. Through different experimental tests, the evaporation rate and efficiency reached 0.9 kg·h−1·m−2 and 45.1% at 1 sun, even with a small amount of rGO (0.76 g/m2). Furthermore, a simple composite enhanced system (CES) based on the rGO composite membrane was fabricated to further improve the evaporation efficiency. The evaporation rate and efficiency reached 1.37 kg·h−1·m−2 and 85.6% at 1 sun when the same amount of rGO was used in our novel CES. This was due to the decrease in the thermal conductivity and capillary enhancement of the supply water. Comparing the different methods of Steam Generation, it was observed that the evaporation efficiency of CES was higher than that of other systems, due to the decreased thermal loss. Finally, an integrated distillation and power Generation device was assembled to demonstrate the practical application of CES and it exhibited great performance. It was of great significance for large-scale Steam Generation in distillation, sewage treatment, and other applications.
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Separating photo-thermal conversion and Steam Generation process for evaporation enhancement using a solar absorber
Applied Energy, 2019Co-Authors: Jian Huang, Yurong He, Meijie Chen, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation is an effective method combining solar energy utilization with water treatment. Photo-thermal conversion and Steam Generation are typically integrated to enhance the evaporation process, which have wide applications in seawater desalination, waste water treatment, sterilization and power plant fields. However, the photo-thermal enhancement for different evaporation areas remains unclear, and there are a number of important issues for membrane process (e.g., blockage of pore structures and contamination of nanoparticles). To overcome these issues, we herein propose a separating design involving a C-TiO2 absorber and a polyvinyl alcohol fiber material as the photo-thermal and Steam Generation units, respectively. A C-TiO2 absorber with good spectral and photo-thermal conversion characteristics was prepared. And the evaporation enhancement effect was investigated with different evaporation areas by experiments and simulations. The equivalent evaporation rate reached the maxima with the evaporation area and decreased thereafter for this separating design. The optimum behavior was achieved when the evaporation region area to photo-thermal area ratio of ca. 2.06, providing guidance for large-scale use. These results can be explained in terms of the changed thermal gradient generated between the center C-TiO2 film and the evaporation region. The design achieved equivalent evaporation rates and evaporation efficiencies of 1.24 kg·m−2·h−1 and 77.83%, respectively, paving the way for the further improvement of solar Steam Generation processes.
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Steam Generation enabled by a high efficiency solar absorber with thermal concentration
Energy, 2018Co-Authors: Jian Huang, Yurong He, Yanwei Hu, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation, a typical solar energy utilization way, has wide applications and attracts many researches, such as the enhancement achieving by numerous nanomaterials and porous membranes. However, some issues need to be solved (e.g., blockage of pore structures and poisoning of film nanoparticles (NPs)), which are critical for developing sustained and efficient evaporation processes. In this sense, we developed herein a novel evaporation method involving a thin water layer and a highly efficient solar absorber for enhanced Steam Generation. This technology prevented pore blockage and poisoning of NPs by employing a dense surface structure and continuous water flow. A C-Au-TiO2 solar absorber prepared by a sol-gel method with a superior photo-thermal conversion capacity, even for lights with large angles of incidence was the key to enhance the solar Steam Generation process. By experiments and theoretical calculations for solar evaporation, the Steam Generation performance and heat change process were investigated. It was found that improving the light absorption of the solar absorber and reducing the thermal loss were effective methods to enhance evaporation rate and efficiency, while reducing the water height could cut down the time needed to reach stable stage. And the C-Au-TiO2 solar absorber achieved a significantly enhanced solar Steam Generation, which may pave the way for developing new highly efficient solar Steam Generation paths.
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volumetric solar Steam Generation enhanced by reduced graphene oxide nanofluid
Applied Energy, 2018Co-Authors: Xinzhi Wang, Jian Huang, Gong Cheng, Yurong HeAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation is a highly efficient photo-thermal conversion method that has a wide range of applications in water purification, distillation, power plants, and seawater desalination. Low Steam Generation efficiency was obtained for solar Steam Generation using traditional working media. Therefore, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanofluids with good stability and light absorption capability were fabricated to achieve highly efficient volumetric solar Steam Generation in this work. The effects of rGO mass concentration and light intensity on solar Steam Generation enhancement were investigated experimentally. It was found that a hot area was formed at water–air interface due to the unique lamellar structure of rGO with good light absorption characteristic, and sunlight was absorbed by the hot area to generate Steam locally, which reduced thermal loss and improved evaporation efficiency. The solar Steam Generation enhancement achieved by the rGO nanofluids reduced evaporation costs and expanded their applicability in seawater desalination, clean water production, sterilization of waste, etc.
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Commercially Available Activated Carbon Fiber Felt Enables Efficient Solar Steam Generation.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018Co-Authors: Haoran Li, Yanwei Hu, Yurong He, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Sun-driven Steam Generation is now possible and has the potential to help meet future energy needs. Current technologies often use solar condensers to increase solar irradiance. More recently, a technology for solar Steam Generation that uses heated surface water and low optical concentration is reported. In this work, a commercially available activated carbon fiber felt is used to generate Steam efficiently under one sun illumination. The evaporation rate and solar conversion efficiency reach 1.22 kg m–2 h–1 and 79.4%, respectively. The local temperature of the evaporator with a floating activated carbon fiber felt reaches 48 °C. Apart from the high absorptivity (about 94%) of the material, the evaporation performance is enhanced thanks to the well-developed pores for improved water supply and Steam escape and the low thermal conductivity, which enables reduced bulk water temperature increase. This study helps to find a promising material for solar Steam Generation using a water evaporator that can be pr...
Gang Chen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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contactless Steam Generation and superheating under one sun illumination
Nature Communications, 2018Co-Authors: George Ni, Yi Huang, Thomas Cooper, Seyed Hadi Zandavi, Yoichiro Tsurimaki, Svetlana V Boriskina, Gang ChenAbstract:Steam Generation using solar energy provides the basis for many sustainable desalination, sanitization, and process heating technologies. Recently, interest has arisen for low-cost floating structures that absorb solar radiation and transfer energy to water via thermal conduction, driving evaporation. However, contact between water and the structure leads to fouling and pins the vapour temperature near the boiling point. Here we demonstrate solar-driven evaporation using a structure not in contact with water. The structure absorbs solar radiation and re-radiates infrared photons, which are directly absorbed by the water within a sub-100 μm penetration depth. Due to the physical separation from the water, fouling is entirely avoided. Due to the thermal separation, the structure is no longer pinned at the boiling point, and is used to superheat the generated Steam. We generate Steam with temperatures up to 133 °C, demonstrating superheated Steam in a non-pressurized system under one sun illumination. Solar Steam Generation is limited by fouling of solar converters, and the Steam temperature is usually pinned to 100 °C. Here, both limitations are overcome in a system utilizing a solar absorber and light down-converter to achieve radiative heating, which does not require physical contact between absorber and water.
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solar Steam Generation by heat localization
Nature Communications, 2014Co-Authors: Hadi Ghasemi, George Ni, Amy Marie Marconnet, James Loomis, Selcuk Yerci, Nenad Miljkovic, Gang ChenAbstract:Steam Generation from solar energy is currently inefficient because of costly high optical concentration and large heat losses involved. Ghasemi et al. develop an efficient approach with internal efficiency up to 85% at low water temperature using a carbon-based material with a double-layer structure.
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Solar Steam Generation by heat localization
Nature Communications, 2014Co-Authors: Hadi Ghasemi, George Ni, Amy Marie Marconnet, James Loomis, Selcuk Yerci, Nenad Miljkovic, Gang ChenAbstract:Currently, Steam Generation using solar energy is based on heating bulk liquid to high temperatures. This approach requires either costly high optical concentrations leading to heat loss by the hot bulk liquid and heated surfaces or vacuum. New solar receiver concepts such as porous volumetric receivers or nanofluids have been proposed to decrease these losses. Here we report development of an approach and corresponding material structure for solar Steam Generation while maintaining low optical concentration and keeping the bulk liquid at low temperature with no vacuum. We achieve solar thermal efficiency up to 85% at only 10 kW m^−2. This high performance results from four structure characteristics: absorbing in the solar spectrum, thermally insulating, hydrophilic and interconnected pores. The structure concentrates thermal energy and fluid flow where needed for phase change and minimizes dissipated energy. This new structure provides a novel approach to harvesting solar energy for a broad range of phase-change applications. Steam Generation from solar energy is currently inefficient because of costly high optical concentration and large heat losses involved. Ghasemi et al . develop an efficient approach with internal efficiency up to 85% at low water temperature using a carbon-based material with a double-layer structure.
Chaoji Chen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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lightweight mesoporous and highly absorptive all nanofiber aerogel for efficient solar Steam Generation
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018Co-Authors: Feng Jiang, Chaoji Chen, Yiju Li, Yudi Kuang, Emily Hitz, Yubing Zhou, Xu Xu, Hao Huang, Xinpeng Zhao, Ronggui YangAbstract:The global fresh water shortage has driven enormous endeavors in seawater desalination and wastewater purification; among these, solar Steam Generation is effective in extracting fresh water by efficient utilization of naturally abundant solar energy. For solar Steam Generation, the primary focus is to design new materials that are biodegradable, sustainable, of low cost, and have high solar Steam Generation efficiency. Here, we designed a bilayer aerogel structure employing naturally abundant cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) as basic building blocks to achieve sustainability and biodegradability as well as employing a carbon nanotube (CNT) layer for efficient solar utilization with over 97.5% of light absorbance from 300 to 1200 nm wavelength. The ultralow density (0.0096 g/cm3) of the aerogel ensures that minimal material is required, reducing the production cost while at the same time satisfying the water transport and thermal-insulation requirements due to its highly porous structure (99.4% porosity). Owi...
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highly flexible and efficient solar Steam Generation device
Advanced Materials, 2017Co-Authors: Chaoji Chen, Yiju Li, Jianwei Song, Zhi Yang, Yudi Kuang, Emily Hitz, Amy Gong, Feng Jiang, Bao YangAbstract:Solar Steam Generation with subsequent Steam recondensation has been regarded as one of the most promising techniques to utilize the abundant solar energy and sea water or other unpurified water through water purification, desalination, and distillation. Although tremendous efforts have been dedicated to developing high-efficiency solar Steam Generation devices, challenges remain in terms of the relatively low efficiency, complicated fabrications, high cost, and inability to scale up. Here, inspired by the water transpiration behavior of trees, the use of carbon nanotube (CNT)-modified flexible wood membrane (F-Wood/CNTs) is demonstrated as a flexible, portable, recyclable, and efficient solar Steam Generation device for low-cost and scalable solar Steam Generation applications. Benefitting from the unique structural merits of the F-Wood/CNTs membrane—a black CNT-coated hair-like surface with excellent light absorbability, wood matrix with low thermal conductivity, hierarchical micro- and nanochannels for water pumping and escaping, solar Steam Generation device based on the F-Wood/CNTs membrane demonstrates a high efficiency of 81% at 10 kW cm−2, representing one of the highest values ever-reported. The nature-inspired design concept in this study is straightforward and easily scalable, representing one of the most promising solutions for renewable and portable solar energy Generation and other related phase-change applications.
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3d printed all in one evaporator for high efficiency solar Steam Generation under 1 sun illumination
Advanced Materials, 2017Co-Authors: Yiju Li, Chaoji Chen, Jianwei Song, Zhi Yang, Emily Hitz, Bao Yang, Yubing Zhou, Liangbing HuAbstract:Using solar energy to generate Steam is a clean and sustainable approach to addressing the issue of water shortage. The current challenge for solar Steam Generation is to develop easy-to-manufacture and scalable methods which can convert solar irradiation into exploitable thermal energy with high efficiency. Although various material and structure designs have been reported, high efficiency in solar Steam Generation usually can be achieved only at concentrated solar illumination. For the first time, 3D printing to construct an all-in-one evaporator with a concave structure for high-efficiency solar Steam Generation under 1 sun illumination is used. The solar-Steam-Generation device has a high porosity (97.3%) and efficient broadband solar absorption (>97%). The 3D-printed porous evaporator with intrinsic low thermal conductivity enables heat localization and effectively alleviates thermal dissipation to the bulk water. As a result, the 3D-printed evaporator has a high solar Steam efficiency of 85.6% under 1 sun illumination (1 kW m−2), which is among the best compared with other reported evaporators. The all-in-one structure design using the advanced 3D printing fabrication technique offers a new approach to solar energy harvesting for high-efficiency Steam Generation.
Bao Yang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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plasmonic wood for high efficiency solar Steam Generation
Advanced Energy Materials, 2018Co-Authors: Yiju Li, Jianwei Song, Zhi Yang, Emily Hitz, Bao Yang, Fengjuan Chen, Yongfeng Li, Yanbin Wang, Minhui Lu, Liangbing HuAbstract:Plasmonic metal nanoparticles are a category of plasmonic materials that can efficiently convert light into heat under illumination, which can be applied in the field of solar Steam Generation. Here, this study designs a novel type of plasmonic material, which is made by uniformly decorating fine metal nanoparticles into the 3D mesoporous matrix of natural wood (plasmonic wood). The plasmonic wood exhibits high light absorption ability (≈99%) over a broad wavelength range from 200 to 2500 nm due to the plasmonic effect of metal nanoparticles and the waveguide effect of microchannels in the wood matrix. The 3D mesoporous wood with numerous low-tortuosity microchannels and nanochannels can transport water up from the bottom of the device effectively due to the capillary effect. As a result, the 3D aligned porous architecture can achieve a high solar conversion efficiency of 85% under ten-sun illumination (10 kW m−2). The plasmonic wood also exhibits superior stability for solar Steam Generation, without any degradation after being evaluated for 144 h. Its high conversion efficiency and excellent cycling stability demonstrate the potential of newly developed plasmonic wood to solar energy-based water desalination.
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rich mesostructures derived from natural woods for solar Steam Generation
Joule, 2017Co-Authors: Yiju Li, Zhi Yang, Yudi Kuang, Feng Jiang, Bao Yang, Guang Chen, Glenn Pastel, Liangbing HuAbstract:Summary A tree is a living energy-water system. Intensive study of tree-derived natural wood is of great significance for the sustainable development of human civilization and reduced dependence on nonrenewable resources. Here, we report on the mesostructures of several natural wood materials as well as their thermal conductivities and mechanical properties. We found that natural wood, including hardwood and softwood, possesses excellent hydrophilicity, an interconnected pore network, low thermal conductivity, and various mechanical properties. Inspired by the critical ecological energy-water nexus, high-efficiency solar Steam Generation based on natural wood is demonstrated in this work. The variation in multiple natural wood microstructures results in significantly different solar Steam Generation performances, with the more porous wood showing higher evaporation efficiency based on our results. The inherent rich mesostructures, aligned microchannels, and favorable hydrophilicity enable natural wood materials to be applied in many other fields of the energy-water nexus.
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highly flexible and efficient solar Steam Generation device
Advanced Materials, 2017Co-Authors: Chaoji Chen, Yiju Li, Jianwei Song, Zhi Yang, Yudi Kuang, Emily Hitz, Amy Gong, Feng Jiang, Bao YangAbstract:Solar Steam Generation with subsequent Steam recondensation has been regarded as one of the most promising techniques to utilize the abundant solar energy and sea water or other unpurified water through water purification, desalination, and distillation. Although tremendous efforts have been dedicated to developing high-efficiency solar Steam Generation devices, challenges remain in terms of the relatively low efficiency, complicated fabrications, high cost, and inability to scale up. Here, inspired by the water transpiration behavior of trees, the use of carbon nanotube (CNT)-modified flexible wood membrane (F-Wood/CNTs) is demonstrated as a flexible, portable, recyclable, and efficient solar Steam Generation device for low-cost and scalable solar Steam Generation applications. Benefitting from the unique structural merits of the F-Wood/CNTs membrane—a black CNT-coated hair-like surface with excellent light absorbability, wood matrix with low thermal conductivity, hierarchical micro- and nanochannels for water pumping and escaping, solar Steam Generation device based on the F-Wood/CNTs membrane demonstrates a high efficiency of 81% at 10 kW cm−2, representing one of the highest values ever-reported. The nature-inspired design concept in this study is straightforward and easily scalable, representing one of the most promising solutions for renewable and portable solar energy Generation and other related phase-change applications.
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3d printed all in one evaporator for high efficiency solar Steam Generation under 1 sun illumination
Advanced Materials, 2017Co-Authors: Yiju Li, Chaoji Chen, Jianwei Song, Zhi Yang, Emily Hitz, Bao Yang, Yubing Zhou, Liangbing HuAbstract:Using solar energy to generate Steam is a clean and sustainable approach to addressing the issue of water shortage. The current challenge for solar Steam Generation is to develop easy-to-manufacture and scalable methods which can convert solar irradiation into exploitable thermal energy with high efficiency. Although various material and structure designs have been reported, high efficiency in solar Steam Generation usually can be achieved only at concentrated solar illumination. For the first time, 3D printing to construct an all-in-one evaporator with a concave structure for high-efficiency solar Steam Generation under 1 sun illumination is used. The solar-Steam-Generation device has a high porosity (97.3%) and efficient broadband solar absorption (>97%). The 3D-printed porous evaporator with intrinsic low thermal conductivity enables heat localization and effectively alleviates thermal dissipation to the bulk water. As a result, the 3D-printed evaporator has a high solar Steam efficiency of 85.6% under 1 sun illumination (1 kW m−2), which is among the best compared with other reported evaporators. The all-in-one structure design using the advanced 3D printing fabrication technique offers a new approach to solar energy harvesting for high-efficiency Steam Generation.
Xinzhi Wang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Enhanced interfacial solar Steam Generation with composite reduced graphene oxide membrane
Solar Energy, 2019Co-Authors: Gong Cheng, Xinzhi Wang, Yurong He, Boris V. BalakinAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation, as a high efficiency photo-thermal conversion method, has enormous potential for many industrial applications. In this work, a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite membrane with high light absorption was prepared to enhance the Steam Generation of water successfully. Through different experimental tests, the evaporation rate and efficiency reached 0.9 kg·h−1·m−2 and 45.1% at 1 sun, even with a small amount of rGO (0.76 g/m2). Furthermore, a simple composite enhanced system (CES) based on the rGO composite membrane was fabricated to further improve the evaporation efficiency. The evaporation rate and efficiency reached 1.37 kg·h−1·m−2 and 85.6% at 1 sun when the same amount of rGO was used in our novel CES. This was due to the decrease in the thermal conductivity and capillary enhancement of the supply water. Comparing the different methods of Steam Generation, it was observed that the evaporation efficiency of CES was higher than that of other systems, due to the decreased thermal loss. Finally, an integrated distillation and power Generation device was assembled to demonstrate the practical application of CES and it exhibited great performance. It was of great significance for large-scale Steam Generation in distillation, sewage treatment, and other applications.
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Separating photo-thermal conversion and Steam Generation process for evaporation enhancement using a solar absorber
Applied Energy, 2019Co-Authors: Jian Huang, Yurong He, Meijie Chen, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation is an effective method combining solar energy utilization with water treatment. Photo-thermal conversion and Steam Generation are typically integrated to enhance the evaporation process, which have wide applications in seawater desalination, waste water treatment, sterilization and power plant fields. However, the photo-thermal enhancement for different evaporation areas remains unclear, and there are a number of important issues for membrane process (e.g., blockage of pore structures and contamination of nanoparticles). To overcome these issues, we herein propose a separating design involving a C-TiO2 absorber and a polyvinyl alcohol fiber material as the photo-thermal and Steam Generation units, respectively. A C-TiO2 absorber with good spectral and photo-thermal conversion characteristics was prepared. And the evaporation enhancement effect was investigated with different evaporation areas by experiments and simulations. The equivalent evaporation rate reached the maxima with the evaporation area and decreased thereafter for this separating design. The optimum behavior was achieved when the evaporation region area to photo-thermal area ratio of ca. 2.06, providing guidance for large-scale use. These results can be explained in terms of the changed thermal gradient generated between the center C-TiO2 film and the evaporation region. The design achieved equivalent evaporation rates and evaporation efficiencies of 1.24 kg·m−2·h−1 and 77.83%, respectively, paving the way for the further improvement of solar Steam Generation processes.
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Steam Generation enabled by a high efficiency solar absorber with thermal concentration
Energy, 2018Co-Authors: Jian Huang, Yurong He, Yanwei Hu, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation, a typical solar energy utilization way, has wide applications and attracts many researches, such as the enhancement achieving by numerous nanomaterials and porous membranes. However, some issues need to be solved (e.g., blockage of pore structures and poisoning of film nanoparticles (NPs)), which are critical for developing sustained and efficient evaporation processes. In this sense, we developed herein a novel evaporation method involving a thin water layer and a highly efficient solar absorber for enhanced Steam Generation. This technology prevented pore blockage and poisoning of NPs by employing a dense surface structure and continuous water flow. A C-Au-TiO2 solar absorber prepared by a sol-gel method with a superior photo-thermal conversion capacity, even for lights with large angles of incidence was the key to enhance the solar Steam Generation process. By experiments and theoretical calculations for solar evaporation, the Steam Generation performance and heat change process were investigated. It was found that improving the light absorption of the solar absorber and reducing the thermal loss were effective methods to enhance evaporation rate and efficiency, while reducing the water height could cut down the time needed to reach stable stage. And the C-Au-TiO2 solar absorber achieved a significantly enhanced solar Steam Generation, which may pave the way for developing new highly efficient solar Steam Generation paths.
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volumetric solar Steam Generation enhanced by reduced graphene oxide nanofluid
Applied Energy, 2018Co-Authors: Xinzhi Wang, Jian Huang, Gong Cheng, Yurong HeAbstract:Abstract Solar Steam Generation is a highly efficient photo-thermal conversion method that has a wide range of applications in water purification, distillation, power plants, and seawater desalination. Low Steam Generation efficiency was obtained for solar Steam Generation using traditional working media. Therefore, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanofluids with good stability and light absorption capability were fabricated to achieve highly efficient volumetric solar Steam Generation in this work. The effects of rGO mass concentration and light intensity on solar Steam Generation enhancement were investigated experimentally. It was found that a hot area was formed at water–air interface due to the unique lamellar structure of rGO with good light absorption characteristic, and sunlight was absorbed by the hot area to generate Steam locally, which reduced thermal loss and improved evaporation efficiency. The solar Steam Generation enhancement achieved by the rGO nanofluids reduced evaporation costs and expanded their applicability in seawater desalination, clean water production, sterilization of waste, etc.
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Commercially Available Activated Carbon Fiber Felt Enables Efficient Solar Steam Generation.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018Co-Authors: Haoran Li, Yanwei Hu, Yurong He, Xinzhi WangAbstract:Sun-driven Steam Generation is now possible and has the potential to help meet future energy needs. Current technologies often use solar condensers to increase solar irradiance. More recently, a technology for solar Steam Generation that uses heated surface water and low optical concentration is reported. In this work, a commercially available activated carbon fiber felt is used to generate Steam efficiently under one sun illumination. The evaporation rate and solar conversion efficiency reach 1.22 kg m–2 h–1 and 79.4%, respectively. The local temperature of the evaporator with a floating activated carbon fiber felt reaches 48 °C. Apart from the high absorptivity (about 94%) of the material, the evaporation performance is enhanced thanks to the well-developed pores for improved water supply and Steam escape and the low thermal conductivity, which enables reduced bulk water temperature increase. This study helps to find a promising material for solar Steam Generation using a water evaporator that can be pr...
