Cellulose-Based Photothermal Microspheres: A Sustainable Solution to Harvesting Freshwater Outdoor

Drinking water shortage is a global issue concerning fundamental human rights and well-being, and it drives people to seek freshwater from the ocean and industrial and municipal wastewater. Herein, we propose a sustainable solution based on the photothermal cellulose hydrogel microspheres and solar interfacial evaporation to harvest freshwater. The evaporation efficiency (1 sun, 2.70 kg m^–2 h^–1) is substantially improved because the intermediate water in the disposable cellulose hydrogel microspheres can reduce the vaporization enthalpy. The abundance of cellulose on earth also makes it possible for the large-scale production and application of cellulose-based microspheres. Furthermore, a simplified water-harvesting device that can generate 4.6 kg/m2 of water daily is easily assembled with the common materials in daily life and the photothermal cellulose hydrogel microspheres. Such a low-cost device could provide a practical solution to alleviate the scarcity of drinking water in impoverished territories worldwide, which fully conforms with the sustainable development goals.

饮用水短缺是一个关乎人类基本权利和福祉的全球性问题，这促使人们从海洋和工业市政废水中获取淡水资源。本文基于光热纤维素水凝胶微球与太阳能界面蒸发技术提出了一种可持续的淡水收集方法。该纤维素水凝胶微球通过降低中间水的蒸发焓，显著提升蒸发效率（1 sun，2.70 kg·m-2·h-1）。纤维素在地球上储量丰富，这为纤维素微球的规模化生产与应用提供了可能。使用日常材料和光热纤维素水凝胶微球组装的简易集水装置，每日可产水4.6 kg/m2。这种低成本装置为环节全球范围贫困地区的饮用水短缺问题提供了切实可行的解决方案，完全符合可持续发展目标。

期刊：ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

原文链接：https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05293