Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2024, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (12): 20240403.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20240403

• Physical Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Nano TiN/h-BN Fiber Composite Photothermal Aerogels for Boosting Solar-driven Seawater Desalination

JIANG Hang, GU Haohui, LIANG Feng(), HE Gangjun, TIAN Yu   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy,Department of Materials,Wuhan University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430081,China
  • Received:2024-08-26 Online:2024-12-10 Published:2024-10-14
  • Contact: LIANG Feng E-mail:liangfengref@wust.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52272021)

Abstract:

In this paper, a novel nano titanium nitride/hexagonal boron nitride(TiN/h-BN) fiber composite photothermal aerogel was synthesized using melamine(C₃H₆N₆), boric acid(H₃BO₃), ethanol(C₂H₅OH), urea [CO(NH₂)₂] and titanium tetrachloride(TiCl₄) as raw materials, through vacuum impregnation and in situ reaction methods. The photothermal conversion and seawater desalination properties of the composite photothermal aerogel were evaluated. The results indicate that titanium nitride nanoparticles were in situ grown on the surface of boron nitride fibers, which significantly improved the light absorption, water wettability and photothermal conversion properties of the aerogel. Under artificial sunlight illumination(1 kW/m²), the surface temperature of the composite aerogel rose to 66.8 ℃ equilibrium temperature within 100 s, demonstrating high optical absorption and efficient solar-to-thermal conversion. As a result, the composite photothermal aerogel presented a water evaporation rate of 2.88 kg·m²·h¹ with an evaporation efficiency of 93%. Additionally, the TiN/h-BN composite photothermal aerogel possessed excellent cycle stability with a removal rate of cation in artificial seawater as high as 99.9%, indicating great potential for application in seawater desalination.

Key words: Titanium nitride, Boron nitride aerogel, Photothermal conversion, Seawater desalination

CLC Number: 

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