Optimizing water content for high-performance fabric solar steam generation

Abstract

Fabric materials have already been applied in the field of interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG), due to their unique characteristics of flexible properties and low thermal conductivity. However, compared with conventional water transport materials, fabric has a thinner thickness, resulting in lower water content and consequently limiting the water supply during the evaporation process. In this study, a high water content fabric was prepared to develop an exceptional performance fabric-based evaporator, which is composed of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and cellulose acetate (CA). Benefiting from the existence of a hydrophilic functional group and porous structure, the evaporator achieved an excellent water supply ability with a water content of 0.124 g cm⁻¹. When carbon black was used as a photothermal material, the fabric steam generation exhibited a water evaporation rate of 4.13 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ under one sun illumination and a water production rate of 14.80 kg m⁻² under 8 hours of natural illumination, representing a high evaporation level in the field of solar steam generation. This study provides a feasible strategy to enhance fabric water content for ISSG.