TY - JOUR
TI - Copper oxide nanorods based nanofibers membrane for solar-driven interfacial evaporation
AU - Zhao Jiang-Hui
AU - Gao Bing
AU - Hong Jun-Xian
AU - Low Siew Chun
AU - Xu Zhen-Zhen
AU - Tan Soon Huat
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2023
VL - 27
IS - 3
SP - 1985
EP - 1991
PT - Article
AB - Solar-driven interfacial evaporation system has attracted intensive attention  owing to its great potential in harnessing renewable solar energy to purify  water. To further enhance the solar-driven interfacial evaporation system  performance, solar absorber structure with high light-thermal energy  conversion efficiency is especially critical. In this work, polyvinyl  pyrrolidone/poly(vinylidene fluoride co hexa fluoropropylene)/CuO-nanorods  (PVP/PVDF-HFP/CuO-nanorods) membrane was prepared sequentially by  electrospinning, heating and hydrothermal processes. The flexible  electrospun membrane was used as the photothermal layer in the solar-driven  interfacial evaporation system. The evenly distributed CuO nanorods function  as solar energy absorbers. The polystyrene foam was used as an insulating  layer, and filter paper was inserted in the middle of the polystyrene foam  to transport water to the photothermal layer. The designed evaporator was  used for the solar evaporation using pure water. As a result, the  evaporation rate was 1.11 kg/m2h and the light-thermal energy conversion  rate was 75.36%. The outcome of this work provides the potential of  solar-driven interfacial evaporation system for water desalination and  wastewater purification.