Dense Thiourea-Graphene Oxide Wetting-Resistant Membrane for Photothermal Distillation

Zhenyu Hu; Tian Liu; Yunjie Wang; Jianyu Wu; Muhammad Usman Farid; Kim Meow Liew; Alicia Kyoungjin An; Wen-Wei Li

doi:10.1021/acsestwater.3c00527

Dense Thiourea-Graphene Oxide Wetting-Resistant Membrane for Photothermal Distillation

Zhenyu Hu, Tian Liu, Yunjie Wang, Jianyu Wu, Muhammad Usman Farid, Kim Meow Liew, Alicia Kyoungjin An^*, Wen-Wei Li^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Solar-driven membrane distillation (SDMD) shows great prospects in zero-carbon-water desalination. However, the poor wetting resistance of traditional photothermal membranes remains a key challenge to their practical application. Herein, we constructed a wetting-resistant photothermal membrane comprising a thiourea (TU)-graphene oxide (GO) dense photothermal layer and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hydrophobic layer, simultaneously enhancing the membrane wetting resistance and solar-thermal conversion. The GO-TU/PVDF membrane with stable and fine-sized nanochannels (0.58 nm average pore size) formed by the TU-cross-linked GO exhibited 100% resistance to sodium dodecyl sulfate wetting, while the GO/PVDF control shows obvious swelling with enlarged GO nanochannels and severe wetting. In addition, the introduction of TU partially reduces GO to strengthen its photothermal activity, further enhancing the SDMD flux under irradiation. Our work offers a new and efficient strategy to improve the wetting resistance of photothermal membranes, which may guide the development of more stable SDMD and solar evaporation systems to favor practical application. © 2023 American Chemical Society.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	190-197
Number of pages	8
Journal	ACS ES&T Water
Volume	4
Issue number	1
Online published	29 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.3c00527
Publication status	Published - 12 Jan 2024

Funding

The authors thank the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0901301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51821006, 52192681, and U21A20160), the Key Research and Development Program of Anhui Province (202104i07020003), the CAS “Light of West China” Program (2019XBZG_JCTD_ZDSYS_001), and Science and Technology Program of Suzhou, China (SWY20222003) for supporting this work.

Research Keywords

molecular sieving
photothermal activity
solar-driven membrane distillation
thiourea-cross-linking graphene oxide
wetting resistance

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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title = "Dense Thiourea-Graphene Oxide Wetting-Resistant Membrane for Photothermal Distillation",

abstract = "Solar-driven membrane distillation (SDMD) shows great prospects in zero-carbon-water desalination. However, the poor wetting resistance of traditional photothermal membranes remains a key challenge to their practical application. Herein, we constructed a wetting-resistant photothermal membrane comprising a thiourea (TU)-graphene oxide (GO) dense photothermal layer and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hydrophobic layer, simultaneously enhancing the membrane wetting resistance and solar-thermal conversion. The GO-TU/PVDF membrane with stable and fine-sized nanochannels (0.58 nm average pore size) formed by the TU-cross-linked GO exhibited 100% resistance to sodium dodecyl sulfate wetting, while the GO/PVDF control shows obvious swelling with enlarged GO nanochannels and severe wetting. In addition, the introduction of TU partially reduces GO to strengthen its photothermal activity, further enhancing the SDMD flux under irradiation. Our work offers a new and efficient strategy to improve the wetting resistance of photothermal membranes, which may guide the development of more stable SDMD and solar evaporation systems to favor practical application. {\textcopyright} 2023 American Chemical Society.",

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author = "Zhenyu Hu and Tian Liu and Yunjie Wang and Jianyu Wu and Farid, {Muhammad Usman} and Liew, {Kim Meow} and An, {Alicia Kyoungjin} and Wen-Wei Li",

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language = "English",

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T1 - Dense Thiourea-Graphene Oxide Wetting-Resistant Membrane for Photothermal Distillation

AU - Hu, Zhenyu

AU - Liu, Tian

AU - Wang, Yunjie

AU - Wu, Jianyu

AU - Farid, Muhammad Usman

AU - Liew, Kim Meow

AU - An, Alicia Kyoungjin

AU - Li, Wen-Wei

PY - 2024/1/12

Y1 - 2024/1/12

N2 - Solar-driven membrane distillation (SDMD) shows great prospects in zero-carbon-water desalination. However, the poor wetting resistance of traditional photothermal membranes remains a key challenge to their practical application. Herein, we constructed a wetting-resistant photothermal membrane comprising a thiourea (TU)-graphene oxide (GO) dense photothermal layer and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hydrophobic layer, simultaneously enhancing the membrane wetting resistance and solar-thermal conversion. The GO-TU/PVDF membrane with stable and fine-sized nanochannels (0.58 nm average pore size) formed by the TU-cross-linked GO exhibited 100% resistance to sodium dodecyl sulfate wetting, while the GO/PVDF control shows obvious swelling with enlarged GO nanochannels and severe wetting. In addition, the introduction of TU partially reduces GO to strengthen its photothermal activity, further enhancing the SDMD flux under irradiation. Our work offers a new and efficient strategy to improve the wetting resistance of photothermal membranes, which may guide the development of more stable SDMD and solar evaporation systems to favor practical application. © 2023 American Chemical Society.

AB - Solar-driven membrane distillation (SDMD) shows great prospects in zero-carbon-water desalination. However, the poor wetting resistance of traditional photothermal membranes remains a key challenge to their practical application. Herein, we constructed a wetting-resistant photothermal membrane comprising a thiourea (TU)-graphene oxide (GO) dense photothermal layer and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hydrophobic layer, simultaneously enhancing the membrane wetting resistance and solar-thermal conversion. The GO-TU/PVDF membrane with stable and fine-sized nanochannels (0.58 nm average pore size) formed by the TU-cross-linked GO exhibited 100% resistance to sodium dodecyl sulfate wetting, while the GO/PVDF control shows obvious swelling with enlarged GO nanochannels and severe wetting. In addition, the introduction of TU partially reduces GO to strengthen its photothermal activity, further enhancing the SDMD flux under irradiation. Our work offers a new and efficient strategy to improve the wetting resistance of photothermal membranes, which may guide the development of more stable SDMD and solar evaporation systems to favor practical application. © 2023 American Chemical Society.

KW - molecular sieving

KW - photothermal activity

KW - solar-driven membrane distillation

KW - thiourea-cross-linking graphene oxide

KW - wetting resistance

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DO - 10.1021/acsestwater.3c00527

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 2690-0637

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EP - 197

JO - ACS ES&T Water

JF - ACS ES&T Water

IS - 1

ER -

Dense Thiourea-Graphene Oxide Wetting-Resistant Membrane for Photothermal Distillation

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