Efficient Solar-Thermal Energy Harvest Driven by Interfacial Plasmonic Heating-Assisted Evaporation

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b08077
• Publication Date: 2016-08-18T13:30:53Z
• Authors: Chao Chang; Chao Yang; Yanming Liu; Peng Tao; Chengyi Song; Wen Shang; Jianbo Wu; Tao Deng
• Keywords: Thermal energy; Energy transformation; Plasmonic Nanoparticles; Thermal mass; Photothermal effect; Thermal efficiency

The plasmonic heating effect of noble nanoparticles has recently received tremendous attention for various important applications. Herein, we report the utilization interfacial heating-assisted evaporation efficient and facile solar-thermal energy harvest. An airlaid paper-supported gold nanoparticle thin film was placed at thermal conversion region within a sealed chamber to convert solar into energy. generated instantly vaporizes water underneath hot vapors that quickly diffuse release condense liquids collected condensed automatically flows back under capillary force from hydrophilic copper mesh. Such an approach simultaneously realizes solar-to-thermal rapid transportation converted target application terminals. Compared conventional external photothermal design, harvesting device driven by internal reduced overall resistance more than 50% demonstrated 25% improvement efficiency.