Jiaxin Ren, Yang Ding, Jiang Gong*, Jinping Qu, Ran Niu*

Cost-effective, easy-scale up preparation of MnO₂-based flexible membranes for simultaneous steam and electricity generation from solar energy

Energy & Environmental Materials (2022) Accept (IF2021 = 15.112)

Harvesting solar energy in an effective manner for steam and electricity generation is a promising technique to simultaneously cope with energy and water crises. However, construction of efficient and easy-scale up photothermal materials for steam and electricity cogeneration remains challenging. Herein, we report a facile and cost-effective strategy to prepare MnO₂-decorated cotton cloth (MCx). The wide adsorption spectrum and excellent photothermal conversion ability of the in-situ formed MnO₂ nanoparticles make the MCx to be advanced photothermal materials. Consequently, the hybrid device integrated of MCx as the photothermal layer and the thermoelectric (TE) module for electricity power conversion exhibits an extremely high evaporation rate of 2.24 kg m^-2 h^-1 under 1 kW m^-2 irradiation, which is ranked among the most powerful solar evaporators. More importantly, during solar evaporation, the hybrid device produces an open-circuit voltage of 0.3 V and a power output of 1.6 W m^-2 under 3 Sun irradiation, and outperforms most of previously reported solar-driven electricity generation devices. Therefore, the integrated device with synergistic solar-thermal utilization opens up a green way towards simultaneous solar vapor and electricity power generation in remote and resource constrained areas.