Development of Nanostructured Photothermal Materials for Solar Driven Water Evaporation Towards Clean Water Production

Ibrahim, Idris

Development of Nanostructured Photothermal Materials for Solar Driven Water Evaporation Towards Clean Water Production

Ibrahim, Idris

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2022

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Ibrahim, Idris
dc.date.accessioned	2022-11-03T23:29:22Z
dc.date.available	2022-11-03T23:29:22Z
dc.date.issued	2022
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/163221
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	The lack of access to fresh water is one of the most significant issues the world is facing today. Only a small percentage of the global water source is freshwater, while most (97.5%) exist as saline water. To help address fresh water scarcity, solar steam generation (SSG) has attracted tremendous attention as being scalable, low-cost, and affordable technology. In recent years, increasing interest in SSG for water purification has been mainly due to advancements in photothermal materials (PTMs). This doctoral study focuses on the rational design development of nanostructures PTMs with unique structural properties for high-performance SSG toward seawater desalination applications. We initially used a single-step solvothermal method to synthesize heterostructure microflowers composed of vertically aligned CuS/Sn2S3 nanosheets (3D CSS-NS MF). The structural features are beneficial for effective heat localization through trapping and re-absorbing the heat along with the fast vapor escaping. This resulted in efficient solar-thermal conversion and water evaporation performances. Besides, a stable evaporation was attained using seawater over 10 continuous cycles with a negligible decrease. Apart from 3D CSS-NS MF, we fabricated a nanoscale gold nanolayer on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane. Our fabricated membrane displayed a robust mechanical strength and chemical stability arising from the adhesiveness of the thin film Au on the PTFE membrane. More remarkably, good reusability was observed in seawater and high salinity brine, even under severe chemical conditions. Despite the outstanding anti-salt performances of Au-PTFE membrane, there is still a drawback with the low evaporation performance. For that reason, a scalable in situ oxidative polymerization approach was developed to fabricate polydopamine nanowires uniformly growing on 3D porous nickel foam. Notably, by taking advantage of the PDA containing abundant hydrophilic hydroxyl groups, exceptional durability and stability were obtained using seawater and high brine salinity. Lastly, we reported a facile method for preparation of hydrogel composed of polyvinylalcohol matrix and ferric-tannate. The prepared hydrogel possesses a rough surface, and diffusion-confined nanochannels. These features are beneficial for solar-thermal conversion, facilitate rapid vapor escape, and anti-salt properties. A stable performance was achieved for 3 consecutive days at seawater and high brine salinity. Moreover, the little salt formed on hydrogel surface during day gradually dissolve and back to the bulk saline water at night condition through the rich nanochannels. In summary, our innovated PTMs in this doctoral study provide insight into development of PTMs which might be promising for large scale solar evaporators towards seawater desalination applications.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/163221/2/02whole.pdf
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Development of Nanostructured Photothermal Materials for Solar Driven Water Evaporation Towards Clean Water Production	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

The lack of access to fresh water is one of the most significant issues the world is facing today. Only a small percentage of the global water source is freshwater, while most (97.5%) exist as saline water. To help address fresh water scarcity, solar steam generation (SSG) has attracted tremendous attention as being scalable, low-cost, and affordable technology. In recent years, increasing interest in SSG for water purification has been mainly due to advancements in photothermal materials (PTMs). This doctoral study focuses on the rational design development of nanostructures PTMs with unique structural properties for high-performance SSG toward seawater desalination applications. We initially used a single-step solvothermal method to synthesize heterostructure microflowers composed of vertically aligned CuS/Sn2S3 nanosheets (3D CSS-NS MF). The structural features are beneficial for effective heat localization through trapping and re-absorbing the heat along with the fast vapor escaping. This resulted in efficient solar-thermal conversion and water evaporation performances. Besides, a stable evaporation was attained using seawater over 10 continuous cycles with a negligible decrease. Apart from 3D CSS-NS MF, we fabricated a nanoscale gold nanolayer on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane. Our fabricated membrane displayed a robust mechanical strength and chemical stability arising from the adhesiveness of the thin film Au on the PTFE membrane. More remarkably, good reusability was observed in seawater and high salinity brine, even under severe chemical conditions. Despite the outstanding anti-salt performances of Au-PTFE membrane, there is still a drawback with the low evaporation performance. For that reason, a scalable in situ oxidative polymerization approach was developed to fabricate polydopamine nanowires uniformly growing on 3D porous nickel foam. Notably, by taking advantage of the PDA containing abundant hydrophilic hydroxyl groups, exceptional durability and stability were obtained using seawater and high brine salinity. Lastly, we reported a facile method for preparation of hydrogel composed of polyvinylalcohol matrix and ferric-tannate. The prepared hydrogel possesses a rough surface, and diffusion-confined nanochannels. These features are beneficial for solar-thermal conversion, facilitate rapid vapor escape, and anti-salt properties. A stable performance was achieved for 3 consecutive days at seawater and high brine salinity. Moreover, the little salt formed on hydrogel surface during day gradually dissolve and back to the bulk saline water at night condition through the rich nanochannels. In summary, our innovated PTMs in this doctoral study provide insight into development of PTMs which might be promising for large scale solar evaporators towards seawater desalination applications.

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