Excellent energy capture of hierarchical MoS2 nanosheets coupled with MXene for efficient solar evaporators and thermal packs

• Published in: Carbon (New York) Vol. 186; pp. 19 - 27
• Main Authors: Guo, Zhenzhen, Zhou, Wei, Arshad, Naila, Zhang, Zexian, Yan, Di, Irshad, Muhammad Sultan, Yu, Li, Wang, Xianbao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Crystallization; Desalination; Energy capture; Energy utilization; Evaporation; Evaporation rate; Evaporators; Gradient heating; Hydrophobicity; Industrial development; Molybdenum disulfide; MoS2-MXene; MXenes; Nanosheets; Paraffins; Phase change materials; Portability; Seawater; Solar desalination; Solar heating; Solar thermal storage; Thermal energy; Thermal storage; MoS2-MXene; Energy capture; Solar thermal storage; Gradient heating; Solar desalination
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2021.09.066

Solar water evaporation technology has become one of the promising ways for seawater desalination by excellent energy capture and efficient solar-thermal conversion. However, some challenges still restrict its further industrial development, such as low flexibility, non-portability, and insufficient energy utilization, salt crystallization problems. In this work, hierarchical MoS2 nanosheets coupled with MXene (MoS2-MXene) is constructed and formed into a film with foldability and portability for solar water evaporation. Improved evaporation rate (2.5 kg m−2 h−1) is observed due to enhanced energy capture from a folded 3D solar evaporation system. Meanwhile, the outstanding evaporation performance (3.2 kg m−2 h−1) is realized because of gradient heating from a hydrophobic MoS2-MXene@PF (MoS2-MXene@Paraffin) under one sun. During the evaporation of high-concentration NaCl solution (20 wt%), the hydrophobic layer is observed to become a salt crystallization site for salt generation. After long-term and multiple testing, no salt crystallization was found at the evaporation site, maintaining a stable evaporation rate. More interesting, MoS2-MXene@PF can be also succeeded as a solar thermal pack for storing heat through the phase change material paraffin (PF). This work provides a new solution to realize excellent energy capture for solar desalination and solar thermal storage. [Display omitted] •Hierarchical MoS2 nanosheets coupled with MXene for efficient solar evaporation.•Improved evaporation rate (2.5 kg m−2 h−1) is observed due to enhanced energy capture.•The outstanding evaporation performance (3.2 kg m−2 h−1) is realized because of gradient heating.