Performance Enhancement of Solar-Driven Steam Generator by Local Wettability Control

Solar membrane steam generation is a very promising technology that can harvest purified water from seawater or wastewater during the current danger of running out of pure water. However, solar Membrane steam generation had direct contact with water, making it difficult to increase the efficient amount of evaporation. Here, we propose solar membrane steam generator composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and graphene oxide (GO) and improved evaporation through wettability control in part throughout the water-absorbing membrane. Wettability control has shown significant improvements in thermal localization and temperature rise in the area of heat exchange with sunlight. The evaporator has an evaporation rate of 1.54 kg m^-2 h^-1 under 1 sun irradiation. The results showed that Solar membrane steam evaporation can effectively harvest pure water through an increase in evaporation.