Origami Solar Interfacial Evaporator for Water-Electricity Co-Generation

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Sustainable Energy
• Environmental Engineering

Background:

• Water scarcity is a major global challenge impacting sustainable development.
• Solar interfacial evaporation is promising for desalination but hindered by material costs, energy inefficiency, and complex fabrication.
• The streaming potential from evaporation is an underutilized energy source.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated water-electricity co-generator using low-cost activated carbon fiber felt (ACFF).
• To enhance the performance of ACFF evaporators through origami structuring.
• To address limitations in cost, energy efficiency, and scalability of current solar evaporators.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of planar ACFF evaporators.
• Performance testing under varying solar intensities (0.5 to 1.5 sun).
• Implementation of origami structuring to improve light trapping and ion transport.

Main Results:

• Planar ACFF achieved evaporation rates of 0.67-1.80 kg m^-2 h^-1 and electrical outputs of 0.50-0.60 V and 6.90-34.55 µA cm^-2.
• Origami-structured ACFF showed improved rates (0.76-1.93 kg m^-2 h^-1) and electrical outputs (0.52-0.61 V, 8.65-68.77 µA cm^-2).
• Origami structuring led to a 7.22%-14.50% increase in evaporation rate and a 99.72% increase in maximum power output.

Conclusions:

• The origami ACFF system offers competitive performance compared to state-of-the-art 3D evaporators.
• This approach provides significant advantages in scalability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of fabrication.
• The integrated system presents an efficient and scalable strategy for water-energy sustainability.