{"title":"Scalable, high-efficiency porous monolithic polymer foam for solar-driven interfacial water evaporation and lithium extraction","authors":"Chunyang Jiang, Ziyi Yan, Yuefeng Bai, Ruoxin Li, Mingrui Wu, Wen-Hao Yu, Hong-Mei Chen, Ping Hu, Ke-Qin Zhao, Kangmin Niu, Yanbo Liu, Shih-Hsin Ho, Wei Wang, Yen Wei","doi":"10.1038/s41545-025-00474-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Freshwater scarcity remains a critical global challenge, prompting the development of sustainable solutions like solar-driven interfacial water evaporation technology. Here, we present a scalable fabrication method for porous monolithic polymer evaporators through olefin metathesis polymerization coupled with NaCl templating. The large-area evaporator (800 × 600 mm²) incorporates amine-capped aniline trimer (ACAT) as a photothermal component within a dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)/cyclooctene (COE) polymer matrix, enabling efficient solar energy absorption and water transport. The optimized SDIE <b>PDCPD-25%COE-10%ACAT</b> exhibits notable performance in seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, and lithium salt enrichment. Under 1 sun irradiation, it achieves a pure water evaporation rate of 3.64 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with a solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 96.7%, reflecting high energy utilization efficiency. Outdoor experiments under natural sunlight further confirm its operational feasibility, yielding an evaporation rate of 3.33 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. This work provides a viable route for the large-scale implementation of photothermal water treatment technologies, contributing to sustainable freshwater production and resource recovery.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"npj Clean Water","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-025-00474-2","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Freshwater scarcity remains a critical global challenge, prompting the development of sustainable solutions like solar-driven interfacial water evaporation technology. Here, we present a scalable fabrication method for porous monolithic polymer evaporators through olefin metathesis polymerization coupled with NaCl templating. The large-area evaporator (800 × 600 mm²) incorporates amine-capped aniline trimer (ACAT) as a photothermal component within a dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)/cyclooctene (COE) polymer matrix, enabling efficient solar energy absorption and water transport. The optimized SDIE PDCPD-25%COE-10%ACAT exhibits notable performance in seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, and lithium salt enrichment. Under 1 sun irradiation, it achieves a pure water evaporation rate of 3.64 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with a solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 96.7%, reflecting high energy utilization efficiency. Outdoor experiments under natural sunlight further confirm its operational feasibility, yielding an evaporation rate of 3.33 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. This work provides a viable route for the large-scale implementation of photothermal water treatment technologies, contributing to sustainable freshwater production and resource recovery.
淡水短缺仍然是一个严峻的全球挑战,促使可持续解决方案的发展,如太阳能驱动的界面水蒸发技术。在这里,我们提出了一种可扩展的制备多孔整体聚合物蒸发器的方法,通过烯烃复分解聚合耦合NaCl模板。该大面积蒸发器(800 × 600 mm²)在二环戊二烯(DCPD)/环烯(COE)聚合物基体中结合了胺盖苯胺三聚体(ACAT)作为光热成分,实现了高效的太阳能吸收和水输送。优化后的SDIE PDCPD-25%COE-10%ACAT在海水淡化、废水处理和锂盐富集方面表现出显著的性能。在1次太阳照射下,纯水蒸发速率为3.64 kg m⁻²h⁻¹,光热转换效率为96.7%,能源利用效率高。室外自然光照下的实验进一步证实了其操作的可行性,得到的蒸发速率为3.33 kg m⁻²h⁻¹。这项工作为大规模实施光热水处理技术提供了一条可行的途径,有助于可持续的淡水生产和资源回收。
npj Clean WaterEnvironmental Science-Water Science and Technology
CiteScore
15.30
自引率
2.60%
发文量
61
审稿时长
5 weeks
期刊介绍:
npj Clean Water publishes high-quality papers that report cutting-edge science, technology, applications, policies, and societal issues contributing to a more sustainable supply of clean water. The journal's publications may also support and accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6, which focuses on clean water and sanitation.