Shape-Customizable 3D Corn Husk-Derived Carbon Evaporator for High-Performance Solar Desalination.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Renewable Energy
• Environmental Engineering

Background:

• 3D interfacial evaporators show promise for enhanced evaporation performance.
• Existing carbon-based 3D evaporators face shape limitations due to biomass precursors, hindering practical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel strategy for fabricating arbitrarily shaped 3D solar-driven interfacial evaporators.
• To investigate the evaporation performance and potential for seawater desalination using these novel evaporators.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of 3D evaporators with arbitrary shapes (hemisphere, cone, flake, Z-type) by integrating corn shuck-derived carbon powder with binders.
• Doping silver into corn-based carbon (Ag-CCS) to enhance photothermal conversion efficiency.
• Characterization of material properties and evaluation of evaporation rates under solar illumination.

Main Results:

• The fabricated Ag-CCS material achieved high surface temperatures (153.3°C dry, 95.7°C wet) under 1 sun.
• The Z-type evaporator exhibited the highest evaporation rate (4.42 kg·m⁻² h⁻¹) due to its porous structure, hydrophilicity, and efficient energy management.
• Outdoor tests confirmed a maximum daily water production of 25.1 kg m⁻² and 20-day salt-cleaning capability.

Conclusions:

• A scalable method for producing arbitrarily shaped 3D carbon-based evaporators was established.
• The Z-type evaporator demonstrates significant potential for efficient and sustainable seawater desalination.
• This technology offers a viable solution for addressing global water scarcity challenges.