Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Multi-functional carbon nanotube paper for solar water evaporation

combined with electricity generation and storage
Yimin Duan a, c, d, 1, Mingcen Weng b, 1, Wei Zhang a, c, d, 1, Yongqiang Qian a, c, d, Zhiling Luo a, c, d,
Luzhuo Chen a, c, d, *
a
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117,
China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Fujian University of Technology, Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials and Products of Universities in Fujian, Fuzhou
350118, China
c
Fujian Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced High-Field Superconducting Materials and Engineering, Fuzhou 350117, China
d
Fujian Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Solar Energy Conversion and Energy Storage, Fuzhou 350117, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Nowadays, multi-functional systems driven by solar energy have been explored to alleviate the crisis of energy
Solar energy and freshwater scarcity. However, it remains a great challenge to integrate multi-functions into one hybrid
Carbon nanotube system with a monolithic material, which can harvest, convert and store solar energy synergistically. Here, we
Water evaporation
firstly propose a multi-functional carbon nanotube paper, which starts from a material level to solve these
Thermoelectric
Supercapacitor
problems. The carbon nanotube paper is fabricated by vacuum filtration. It exhibits high efficiency of solar-
thermal conversion. Secondly, three types of energy conversion/storage systems (e.g., solar-thermal evapora­
tion system, solar-thermoelectric generation system, and supercapacitor) are constructed based on the carbon
nanotube paper, which extend the research to a device level. The solar-thermal evaporation system shows an
evaporation rate of 1.28 kg m-2h− 1 under simulated sunlight irradiation of 1 kW m− 2. The solar-thermoelectric
generation system demonstrates a stable electric power generation with an output voltage of 100 mV under light
irradiation of 1 kW m− 2. The supercapacitors perform the energy storage function with an areal specific
capacitance of 19.6 mF cm− 2. These devices and systems can be used in freshwater generation (0.84 kg m-2h− 1,
sunlight irradiation of 1 kW m− 2), water purification/desalination (inorganic ions rejection larger than 99.9%)
and portable solar charging system (maximum output voltage of 5 V). Finally, a hybrid energy system is inno­
vatively proposed from the system level to simultaneously produce freshwater, generate and store electric power.
Through the synergetic coupling of solar conversion and storage technologies, the hybrid energy system can
supply sustainable freshwater and electricity for remote areas in daily life, highlighting the superiority of multi-
energy (thermal energy, electrical energy, and electrochemical energy) complementary.

1. Introduction
Sustainable electric power and freshwater supply are crucial for
people’s daily life. Nowadays, a part of the electric power supply is
provided by fossil fuels, which cannot be renewable. Besides, environ­
mental pollutions (including water pollution and air pollution) always
bother us. Hence, developing the technologies of sustainable energy and
freshwater is the best alternative to settle this problem. Solar energy,
which is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources on the
earth, has been widely used in the fields of water desalination, waste-
water purification, and freshwater production[1]. For example, Lu
et al. developed a hydrogel-based ultrathin membrane to synergistically
facilitate vapor transfer and environmental energy harvesting for solar-
driven membrane distillation, demonstrating a promising membrane
distillation strategy toward both decentralized water purification and
large-scale water treatment[2]. Furthermore, with the combination of
solar energy conversion technologies, a series of hybrid devices have
been proposed to simultaneously harvest freshwater and generate other
types of energies. For example, Xu et al. proposed an integrated tandem

* Corresponding author at: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal
University, Fuzhou 350117, China.
E-mail address: ChenLZ@fjnu.edu.cn (L. Chen).
1
These authors contributed equally.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114306
Received 19 February 2021; Accepted 14 May 2021
Available online 28 May 2021
0196-8904/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Duan et al. Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306

Nomenclature Constants
δ emissivity of carbon nanotube paper
Parameters and variables σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
ηS.S.G. solar steam generation efficiency hcon. natural convective heat transfer coefficient
ṁ net evaporation rate Cwater specific heat capacity of water
hLV total enthalpy of the liquid–vapor phase change
qinput input energy density Acronyms
Qinput input energy CNT carbon nanotube
CNTP carbon nanotube paper
Prad. heat radiation loss power
ESS energy storage system
A surface area of carbon nanotube paper
SES solar-thermal evaporation system
T1 surface temperature of carbon nanotube paper
SGS solar-thermoelectric generation system
T2 ambient temperature
HES hybrid energy system
Pcon. natural convective heat dissipation power
SEM scanning electronic microscope
Qcond. heat conduction loss
DI water deionized water
mwater mass of water
TE thermoelectric
ΔT elevated temperature change of water
CV cyclic voltammetry
VOC open-circuit voltage
GCD galvanostatic charge/discharge
ISC short circuit current
I-V current–voltage
CS areal specific capacitance
P-V power-voltage
I discharge current
LED light-emitting diode
t discharge time
U potential window Chemical reagent
ASC active area of supercapacitors HCl hydrochloric acid
ES areal specific energy density H2SO4 hydrochloric acid
PS areal specific power density NaCl sodium chloride
Poutput output power MgCl2 magnesium chloride
Ioutput output current CaCO3 calcium carbonate
Voutput output voltage K2SO4 potassium sulphate
pintput input power density PVA polyvinyl alcohol
poutput output power density PS polystyrene
ηS.T.E. solar-thermoelectric conversion efficiency
Voutput’ output voltage increased by boost converter

solar electricity-water system made with composites of carbon nano­
tubes (CNTs) and reduced graphene oxide, which consisted of an
infrared-transparent photovoltaic device, a solar water purifier, and a
water-proof thermal interconnecting layer[3]. The system could syner­
gistically and efficiently produce freshwater (0.80 kg m-2h− 1) and
electricity (204 W m− 2) under simulated sunlight (1 kW m− 2) irradia­
tion. Besides, the water-evaporation-induced directional hydrated ions
migration was another strategy to convert solar energy to electricity.
Xiao et al. proposed a multi-functional Janus material based on CNTs
that realized an efficient combination of solar-heating enhanced water-
flow-induced power generation and interfacial water evaporation[4].
The solar-driven evaporator made with the Janus material could effec­
tively utilize the water evaporation process to generate electricity and
clean water. In addition to electric power, solar energy could also be
converted into mechanical energy through a Stirling engine box covered
with carbonized towel-gourd sponges[5]. These devices demonstrate
that the multiple utilization forms of solar energy may further promote
the entire efficiency of solar energy utilization. However, these devices
still lack energy storage modules to store the various energy converted
from solar energy.
Furthermore, the intermittency of sunlight makes solar-based energy
conversion technologies unable to satisfy the around-the-clock demand
for electric power and freshwater in daily life, which greatly restricts the
above solar-based energy conversion technologies. The efficient use of
intermittent solar energy sources relies on the collaborative develop­
ment of solar energy harvest, conversion, and storage technologies.
Therefore, there still lacks a hybrid and integrated system to solve the
above restrictions. The mitigation of this problem lies in developing a
hybrid system that combines the solar energy conversion system with an
energy storage system (ESS). Li et al. proposed a hybrid system that can
store and recycle interfacial solar steam enthalpy for the simultaneous
generation of freshwater and electricity[6]. The hybrid system has a
thermal storage function to generate electric power without sunlight for
about 5 min. Compared to storing solar energy in thermal storage
modules for electric power generation, storing solar energy in a
chargeable ESS would be better. The chargeable ESS could convert solar
energy into electric energy and further store electric energy in the form
of chemical energy, which can also be further designed as flexible and
scalable energy storage platforms with high power density. Integrating
supercapacitors with solar cells or batteries are two typical ways to
construct integrated energy generation/storage systems. One is inte­
grated energy conversion and storage devices fabricated by CNT-
graphene composites, which consist of dye-sensitized solar cell and
supercapacitor[7]. The other is CNT-based planar interdigital supeca­
pacitors integrated with Zinc-air batteries to realize in situ charging[8].
Thus, integrating the chargeable supercapacitor as an electric power
storage module into the electric generator may be a hopeful solution to
tackle the intermittent sunlight.
Different from the previous researches, our research focuses on
constructing a hybrid energy system (HES) based on a monolithic ma­
terial, which combines of a solar-thermal evaporation system (SES), a
solar-thermoelectric generation system (SGS), and an ESS, to simulta­
neously solve the problems of discontinuity and instability of renewable
energy power/water generation. Here, a multi-functional carbon nano­
tube paper (CNTP) is firstly developed, which can produce freshwater,
generate and store electric power. The CNTP is fabricated by vacuum
filtration of the CNTs and paper fibers. The CNTP exhibits high absor­
bance of sunlight (greater than 98%) to enhance solar-thermal conver­
sion efficiency, enabling it suitable for a SES and a SGS. As a result, the
SES and the SGS realize the evaporation rate of 1.28 kg m-2h− 1 and the

2
Y. Duan et al.
output voltage of 100 mV under simulated sunlight irradiation (1 kW
m− 2), respectively. The CNTP also has high electrical conductivity
(greater than 570 S m− 1) and a porous structure. Thus, the CNTP can not
only act as a solar energy absorber/convertor, but also be used as a
current collector for the supercapacitors to construct the ESS. As a proof-
of-concept, two prototypes of HES are constructed to demonstrate the
ability to simultaneously produce freshwater, generate and store electric
power under sunlight irradiation. The advantages of our research lie in
the construction of a multi-functional HES through the collaborative
coupling of solar energy conversion/storage technology, which realizes
the effective use of solar energy and highlights the advantages of multi-
energy complementarity.
2. Materials and methods
In this section, the materials are firstly introduced in detail. Sec­
ondly, the fabrication methods of CNTP and solid-state supercapacitors
are summarized. Thirdly, the evaluation methods of SES, SGS, the
supercapacitors, and the freshwater production device are described in
detail. Finally, other characterization methods, such as the scanning
electronic microscope (SEM) and the spectrometer are summarized.
2.1. Materials
The pure paper (Chinese Xuan paper) was purchased from Jing­
huitang Trading Co., Ltd. The thickness of the paper was 22 μm and the
average aspect ratio of the fibers in paper was over 200. The ink was
purchased from Beijing Yidege Ink Industry Co., Ltd. CNTs (function­
alized with carboxyl) were purchased from Chengdu Organic Chemicals
Co. Ltd., Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hydrochloric acid (HCl), hy­
drochloric acid (H2SO4), sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium chloride
(MgCl2), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), potassium sulphate (K2SO4),
polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical
Reagent Co., Ltd.
2.2. Fabrication of carbon nanotube paper
First of all, the pretreatment of paper was conducted. The paper was
cut into small pieces with dimensions of 0.5 × 0.5 cm− 2. After that, these
pieces of paper were immersed in HCl aqueous solution (0.5 mol L-1) for
about 15 min to remove any impurities. Then, they were washed with
deionized (DI) water and placed in a vacuum oven at 60 ◦ C. Secondly,
the paper fibers (120 mg) and the CNTs (60 mg) were ultrasonically
stirred with 60 ml DI water for 10 min, and the mixture suspension was
obtained. Finally, the CNTP was prepared by vacuum filtrating the
above mixture suspension and drying it in a vacuum oven at 60 ◦ C.
2.3. Fabrication of solid-state supercapacitor based on carbon nanotube
paper
First of all, PVA-H2SO4 electrolyte was prepared by adding PVA
powder (6 g) into 60 ml H2SO4 aqueous solution (1 mol L-1). The whole
mixture was heated to 80 ◦ C under vigorous stirring until the solution
became clear. After the mixture cooled down, two CNTP electrodes (30
mm × 10 mm) were immersed into the PVA-H2SO4 electrolyte for 5 min
and dried for 6 h. After that, they were assembled into a supercapacitor.
The active area of the supercapacitor was 2 cm2.
2.4. Evaluation of solar-thermal evaporation rate
First, the CNTP was floating on water by placing polystyrene (PS)
foam in a beaker. The beaker was wrapped with PS foam in advance. The
light powers of the simulated sunlight (provided by Xenon light source,
Beijing Perfectlight PLS-SXE300) were controlled at 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW
m− 2. Each light power was illuminated for 60 min and the mass change
of the solar-thermal steam system was monitored by an electronic
3
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
precision balance (YOKEFA1004CS, 0.1 mg in accuracy). The surface
temperature of CNTP was measured by using an infrared thermometer
(Optris LS) and an infrared thermal imager (Fluke Ti10). The tempera­
ture of the liquid-phase water was measured by using a thermocouple
thermometer.
2.5. The analysis methods for solar steam generation efficiency and heat
loss
The solar steam generation efficiency (ηS.S.G. ) can be calculated by
the equation:
ṁ∙hLV
ηS.S.G. = (1)
qinput
In the equation (1), ṁ is the net evaporation rate of SES under light
irradiation, hLV is the total enthalpy of the liquid–vapor phase change,
which includes the sensible heat and phase change enthalpy, and qinput is
the input energy density of SES under light irradiation during the
process.
Steady-state energy balance analysis is used to quantitatively discuss
the heat loss in SES based on CNTP. The following five primary energy
consumption routes are considered: reflection energy loss, heat radia­
tion loss, heat convection loss, heat conduction loss, and water evapo­
ration. The analyses of heat radiation loss, heat convection loss, and heat
conduction loss are displayed as followed.
The heat radiation loss power can be calculated by Stefan-Boltzmann
law:
( )
Prad. = δ∙A∙σ ∙ T14 − T24 (2)
where Prad. is heat radiation loss power, δ is the emissivity of CNTP, A
is the surface area of CNTP, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, T1 is the
surface temperature of CNTP, and T2 is the ambient temperature.
The heat convection loss power can be expressed by the equation:
Pcon. = hcon. ∙A∙(T1 − T2 ) (3)
where Pcon. is the natural convective heat dissipation power, and hcon.
(5 W m− 2 K− 1) is acquired from a previous research[9].
The heat conduction loss is calculated based on:
Qcond. = Cwater ∙mwater ∙ΔT (4)
where Qcond. denotes the heat conduction loss, Cwater is the specific
heat capacity of water, mwater is the mass of water, and ΔT is the elevated
temperature change of water.
2.6. Evaluation of solar-thermoelectric generation efficiency
The commercial thermoelectric (TE) module (SP1848-27145, 4 cm ×
4 cm, internal resistance is 3.3 Ω) was selected as the TE generation
device. The CNTP with dimensions of 4 cm × 6 cm was cut and attached
to the upper surface of the TE module. The thermal grease with the
thermal conductivity of 1 W m− 1 K− 1 was introduced to fill the air gap
between the CNTP and TE module to reduce the contact thermal resis­
tance. The TE module was fixed on an aluminum heatsink. The heatsink
was used to support the TE module. The bottom surface of the TE module
was just sinking in the water. The open-circuit voltage (VOC) and short
circuit current (ISC) of SGS were measured and recorded by a digital
SourceMeter (Keithley 2410). The consequential solar-thermoelectric
generations were performed under light powers of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW
m− 2.
2.7. Evaluation of the performance of solid-state supercapacitor
The cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves of supercapacitors were scanned
at the scan rates of 5, 25, 50, 100, and 250 mV s− 1 by an electrochemical
workstation (Zahner Zennium). The galvanostatic charge/discharge
Y. Duan et al.
(GCD) curves of supercapacitors were measured at the current densities
of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mA cm− 2 by using a battery
testing system (Wuhan LAND Electronics, China). The supercapacitor
was tested in 10,000 GCD cycles (current density of 0.5 mA cm− 2) to
evaluate long-term electrochemical stability. The areal specific capaci­
tances (CS) was calculated from the GCD data according to equation (5):
CS = I∙t∙U − 1 ∙A−SC1 (5)
where I, t, U, and ASC are the discharge current, the discharge time,
the potential window, and the active area of supercapacitors, respec­
tively. The areal specific energy density (ES) and the areal specific power
density (PS) were obtained based on the following equations (6) and (7):
1
ES = ∙CS ∙U 2 (6)
2
PS = ES ∙t− 1
(7)
2.8. Evaluation of water treatment performance
A cup of ink aqueous solution composed of ink (5 ml) and DI water
(95 ml) was firstly fabricated, which simulated industrial dye polluted
contaminated water. After light irradiation (1 kW m− 2, 2 h), the
condensed purification water was collected to test the absorbance
spectrum. Next, simulated seawater with a salinity of 3.4% was
configured by adding NaCl (27.23 g), MgCl2 (10.78 g), CaCO3 (1.00 g),
K2SO4 (0.89 g) into DI water (1 L) with stirring for 1 h. After light
irradiation (1 kW m− 2, 2 h), the condensed desalinated water was
collected to test the inorganic ions concentration.
Fig. 1. Fabrication and characterization of CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the fabrication process of CNTP. (b) Optical photo of fabricated CNTP. (c) SEM image
showing the surface of CNTP. The inset SEM image shows a higher magnification. (d) Transmittance spectrum of CNTP. (e) Reflectance spectrum of CNTP.
4
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
2.9. Characterization
The SEM images were captured by a field-emission SEM (Hitachi
SU8010). The optical photos and videos were captured by using a digital
camera (SONY ILCE 6000). The spectra were captured by a UV/VIS/NIR
spectrometer (PerkinElmer Lambda 950). The light power density was
measured by an optical power meter (Perfect Light, PL-MW2000). The
concentration of metal ions was characterized by ICAP7000 (Thermo­
Fisher Scientific).
3. Results and discussions
In this section, the fabrication and characterization of the CNTP are
firstly elaborated in detail. Secondly, the solar-thermal evaporation
performance of SES, the solar-thermoelectric generation of SGS, and the
electrochemical performance of supercapacitors based on the CNTP are
investigated. Finally, the HES based on the CNTP is proposed and used in
practical applications.
3.1. Fabrication and characterization of the carbon nanotube paper
The CNT, a typical carbon-based material, has a unique one-
dimensional structure and superior physical properties. For example,
it has large electrical conductivity, high Young’s modulus, wide wave­
length ranges of light absorption, high efficiency of photo-thermal
conversion, and high thermal conductivity. However, the CNTs are
usually dispersed and non-freestanding. In the design of CNTP, the paper
fibers are used as the skeleton as it can form a freestanding film with a
porous and rough structure (Fig. S1, Supporting Information)[10]. In
Y. Duan et al.
this research, the CNTP was fabricated by vacuum filtrating homoge­
neous suspension of the functionalized CNTs and paper fibers, as sche­
matically illustrated in Fig. 1a. Briefly, the pretreated paper fibers and
CNTs were ultrasonically stirred to form a homogeneous suspension.
Subsequently, the CNTP was quickly self-assembled through vacuum
filtration. After being peeled off from the filter paper and dried, the free-
standing CNTP was obtained, as shown in Fig. 1b. With the help of ul­
trasonic stirring, the functionalized CNTs can wrap around the paper
fibers tightly through hydrogen bonds to form the CNTP.
First of all, the microstructure of CNTP was observed by the SEM. As
presented in Fig. 1c, the fabricated CNTP keeps the porous and rough
structure of paper due to the skeleton of paper fibers. The porosity of
CNTP was calculated as ~ 82% according to a previous research[11].
Moreover, the inset SEM image shows that the CNTs fully wrap around
the paper fibers. Secondly, the absorption efficiency of sunlight of CNTP
was evaluated by measuring reflectance and transmittance spectra of the
CNTP. As shown in Fig. 1d, the CNTP with a thickness of ~121 μm ex­
hibits an extremely low transmittance of light (~0) throughout the
whole solar irradiance spectrum range of 200–2500 nm. Also, the
reflectance of the CNTP is only ~ 1.7% according to Fig. 1e. Hence, the
CNTP shows a high absorbance of sunlight (up to ~ 98.3%) over the
solar irradiance spectrum. The high absorbance of sunlight is mainly
attributed to two reasons. One is the ability of the broad-band light
absorption of the CNTs[12]. The other is the rough surface and the
porous structure of the CNTP, which not only trap transmitted light, but
also enhance the multi-scattering of the incident light in confined
spaces, allowing the CNTP to absorb efficiently broadband solar light
[9,13]. The high absorbance of sunlight of the CNTP allows it to have
excellent ability of solar-thermal conversion.
3.2. Solar-thermal evaporation performance of solar-thermal evaporation
system based on the carbon nanotube paper
The ability of solar-thermal conversion of the CNTP was firstly
evaluated under simulated sunlight irradiation (1 kW m− 2). The surface
temperature of the CNTP was recorded as shown in Fig. 2a. In com­
parison, the surface temperature of pure paper was also recorded and
shown in Fig. 2a. Under light irradiation power of 1 kW m− 2, the surface
temperature of the CNTP increased from 23.1 ◦ C to 58.5 ◦ C and main­
tained the temperature steadily within 3 min. In contrast, the surface
temperature of pure paper only increased from 25 ◦ C to 31 ◦ C. According
to the infrared thermal image in Fig. 2b, the surface temperature dis­
tribution of the CNTP after light irradiation (1 kW m− 2, 3 min) was
uniform, which indicated that the CNTs were uniformly distributed on
the surface of CNTP. These results reveal that the introduction of CNTs
into the CNTP can improve the ability of solar-thermal conversion of the
CNTP compared with pure paper.
Owing to the outstanding ability of solar-thermal conversion, the
CNTP was directly used to construct a SES. As schematically illustrated
in Fig. 3a, the SES contains a piece of CNTP, a piece of PS foam (used as a
Fig. 2. The ability of solar-thermal conversion of the CNTP. (a) Surface temperature of the CNTP and the pure paper under light irradiation (1 kW m− 2) for three
cycles. (b) Infrared thermal images of the CNTP and the pure paper under light irradiation (1 kW m− 2, 3 min).
5
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
thermal insulator) and water. The optical photos of SES are shown in
Fig. S2a-b (Supporting Information). A part of CNTP is immersed in
water to continuously absorb water for evaporation. Under light irra­
diation, the wet CNTP, which is placed on the floating PS foam, is effi­
ciently heated up. After that, the SES generates steady and sustainable
steam under light irradiation, as displayed in Fig. S3 (Supporting In­
formation). The detailed test system diagram of SES is shown in Fig. S2c
(Supporting Information). The evaporation rate is a basic indicator to
evaluate the performance of SES. The evaporation rate was firstly
quantifiably measured by recording the mass change of SES over time.
As shown in Fig. 3b, the evaporating rate of SES based on the CNTP was
1.28 kg m-2h− 1 under light power of 1 kW m− 2, while the evaporation
rate of SES based on pure paper and pure water were 0.68 and 0.37 kg m-
2 − 1
h , respectively. The evaporating rate of SES is higher than that of
previous reported carbon-based materials (graphite-coated wood: 1.15
kg m-2h− 1)[14], metal oxide materials (W18O49: 1.13 kg m-2h− 1)[15],
polymer-based materials (polymer foam: 1.17 kg m-2h− 1)[16], semi­
conductor materials (BiInSe3@carbon foam: 1.1 kg m-2h− 1)[17], etc.
These results further demonstrate the excellent performance of the solar-
thermal evaporation of the CNTP. The evaporation rate of SES also
increased with light power. The evaporation rates of SES were 3.73,
6.09, and 11.75 kg m-2h− 1 under light powers of 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2,
respectively. To further investigate the mechanism of the evaporation
rate of SES when the light power increases, the dynamic surface tem­
perature of SES was monitored synchronously. The recorded tempera­
ture is shown in Fig. 3c. Under light power of 1 kW m− 2, the surface
temperature of the CNTP is 39.9 ◦ C, which is markedly higher than that
of the pure paper (34.1 ◦ C) and the pure water (29.2 ◦ C). The phe­
nomenon is due to a large number of CNTs distributing evenly on the
surface of CNTP. The CNTs efficiently convert the light into heat,
directly leading to the surface temperature of the CNTP higher than that
of the pure paper and the pure water. The infrared thermal image of the
surface of SES under light power of 1 kW m− 2 demonstrates the uniform
distribution of temperature, as presented in Fig. S4a (Supporting Infor­
mation). The surface temperature of the CNTP also increases with the
rising of light power. As shown in Fig. 3c, the surface temperature of
CNTP is 58.3, 64.1, and 79.2 ◦ C under light power of 3, 5, and 10 kW
m− 2, respectively. Besides, the infrared thermal images of the surface of
SES under different light powers are also shown in Fig. S4b-d (Support­
ing Information) for comparison. Hence, with the increase of light
power, the surface temperature of SES increases, accelerating the water
evaporation process, which directly leads to the higher evaporation rate
of SES.
The evaporation rates of pure water under different light powers
were also measured for comparison. The dynamic mass changes of SES
based on the pure water under light power of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2 are
presented in Fig. S5 (Supporting Information). The evaporation rates
were 0.37, 0.58, 0.86, and 1.51 kg m-2h− 1, respectively. The values were
much lower than those of the CNTP. The reason is that the SES without
CNTP cannot efficiently convert solar energy into thermal energy
Y. Duan et al. Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306

Fig. 3. Solar-thermal evaporation performances of SES based on CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the SES. (b) Dynamic mass change of SES based on CNTP under
different light powers; dynamic mass change of SES based on pure paper and pure water under light power of 1 kW m− 2. (c) Dynamic surface temperature of SES
based on CNTP under different light powers; dynamic surface temperature of SES based on pure paper and pure water under light power of 1 kW m− 2. (d) Evap­
oration rates of SES based on CNTP (red line) and pure water (black line) under different light powers for 60 min, and the enhancement factor of SES based on CNTP
(blue line) under different light powers. (e) Solar steam generation efficiencies of SES under different light powers. (f) Evaporation rate of SES versus cycle number
under different light powers.

directly, resulting in the low evaporation rate of pure water. The evap­
oration rates of SES based on the CNTP and the pure water are sum­
marized in Fig. 3d. After that, the enhancement factor of the SES based
on the CNTP was calculated. The enhancement factor is defined as fol­
lows[18] :
Evaporation rate of SES based on the CNTP
Enhancement factor = . (8)
Evaporation rate of the pure water
As shown in Fig. 3d, the enhancement factor is 3.46 under light
power of 1 kW m− 2, while that rises to 7.78 with the light power of 10
kW m− 2. This result further confirms that the ability of solar-thermal
conversion of CNTP greatly enhances the solar-thermal evaporation
performance of SES. The efficiency of solar steam generation (ηS.S.G. ) of
SES was quantitatively evaluated according to Note S1, Fig. S6, and
Table S1 (Supporting Information)[9]. The calculated ηS.S.G. of SES based
on the CNTP was 83.3% under light power of 1 kW m− 2 (Fig. 3e). The
heat loss of SES was analyzed (details are in Note S2, Supporting In­
formation)[9]. The heat loss induced by the reflection of sunlight is
small (1.17%). The result is owing to the rough surface and the porous
structure of CNTP, which enhances the scattering of incident light in the
CNTP and increases the absorption ability of the CNTP. The heat con­
duction loss of SES was 4.06%, which resulted from the low thermal
conductivity of the paper fibers. The heat radiation loss and heat con­
vection loss of SES were 6.23% and 4.95% respectively, owing to the low
temperature of CNTP on the surface of SES. Besides, the ηS.S.G. of SES
based on CNTP under different light power of 3, 5 and 10 kW m− 2 were
also calculated as 84.7%, 83.9%, and 82.1%, respectively (Fig. 3e). The
calculated ηS.S.G. results are greatly larger than that of SES without CNTP
(42.7% for the SES with pure paper and 14.0% for the pure water). The
ηS.S.G. was also larger than that of solar evaporation generation devices
based on porous structures (modified graphene aerogel: 76.9%)[19],
bioinspired structures (biofoams: 76.3%)[20], composite membranes
(polydopamine-reduced graphene oxide modified polytetrafluoro­
ethylene membranes: 78.6%)[21], etc. These results demonstrated the
high solar-thermal performance of CNTP was very promising for SES. It
should be noted that the low-cost of SES based on CNTP (cheaper than
concentrator, precious metals, et al.), the simple fabrication method
(easier than carbon dots, polydopamine, et al.) and the ability of large-
scale production make CNTP become an ideal candidate for real solar
thermal applications. After that, the cycling performance of SES based
on the CNTP in long-time usage was evaluated by measuring the evap­
oration rate under different light powers. As presented in Fig. 3f, the SES
exhibits a steady evaporation rate without degradation during 15 cycles.
The SES shows stable performance in long-time usage.
Finally, a lab-made freshwater producting device was proposed to
obtain freshwater. The device (left panel of Fig. 4a) was composed of a
condenser, a collector, and the SES. The mechanism of water purifica­
tion and desalination through the CNTP is thermal-induced water
vaporization. The contaminated water or natural water is stored in SES,
while the CNTP floats on the water with the help of PS foam. The CNTP
absorbs the water and becomes wet. Under light irradiation, the wet
CNTP firstly absorbs and converts the solar energy into thermal energy.
After that, the absorbed water in the wet CNTP is heated and evapo­
rated, generating water vapor. Then, small water drops are generated
when the water vapor meets the condenser. The right panel of Fig. 4a
shows the situation of the device after light irradiation (1 kW m− 2, 60
min). There were many small water drops on the inner surface of the
condenser. The freshwater was collected through the numerous small
water droplets flowing into the collector. The freshwater generation rate
of the device was measured as 0.84 kg m-2h− 1, which enabled it to
become a hopeful way for freshwater generation.
To demonstrate the ability of waste-water purification of the device,
an ink aqueous solution was prepared, which acted as the simulated
contaminated water samples polluted by industrial dyes. Under light
irradiation, the black ink aqueous solution was purified to transparent
and colorless water through the device. The ultraviolet–visible absorp­
tion spectra of simulated contaminated water and purified water were
collected to verify the water quality before and after the purification.
The collected spectra are presented in Fig. 4b. The absorbance value of
simulated contaminated water is high in the visible wavelength, while

6
Y. Duan et al. Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306

Fig. 4. A lab-made freshwater producing device based on CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the setup for freshwater production (left panel) and the optical photo of
freshwater producing device after light irradiation (right panel). (b) Absorbance spectra of the ink contaminated water and the purification water. The inset image
was the ink contaminated water (left) and the purified water (right), respectively. (c) Concentrations of Na+, Mg2+, K+, and Ca2+ ions in the simulated seawater and
the desalinated water, as well as the ion rejection after the desalination process.

that of the purified water is close to zero. Besides, the black ink aqueous
solution and colorless purified water are displayed in the inset of Fig. 4b
for comparison.
The device is also capable of producing drinkable water from natural
water sources and leaving behind the salts (e.g. Na+, Mg2+, K+, and
Ca2+). Based on this property, the device can be used in natural water
desalination, collecting clean and drinkable water. A cup of simulated
seawater was prepared to demonstrate the ability of water desalination
of the device. To evaluate the quality of desalinated water, the
concentrations of four inorganic ions (Na+, Mg2+, K+, and Ca2+) in the
simulated seawater and the desalinated water were measured. As dis­
played in Fig. 4c, the concentrations of all four inorganic ions decreased
more than four orders of magnitude compared with that of the simulated
seawater. Besides, the rejections of four inorganic ions were all larger
than 99.9%. The concentrations of Na+, Mg2+, K+, and Ca2+ in the
desalinated water were measured as 2.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 0.3 mg L-1. Those
values were all lower than the salinity level of drinking water defined by
the World Health Organization[22,23]. The advantage of the device is

Fig. 5. Solar-thermoelectric generation performances of SGS based on CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the setup of SGS. (b) Optical photo of the generated voltage
of SGS under light irradiation (1 kW m− 2). (c) Dynamic VOC of SGS under different light powers. (d) I-V and P-V curves of SGS under different light powers. (e) The
poutput and ηS.T.E. of SGS under different light powers. (f) Solar-thermoelectric generation performances of SGS under different light powers for three cycles. (g)
Schematic illustration of the setup of solar charging system. (h-i) Series photos of solar charging system charging a cellphone.

7
Y. Duan et al.
using abundant, cost-free, and sustainable solar energy to realize effi­
cient desalination. Besides, the characteristics of low-cost, portability
and simple assembly enable it promising in open natural water sources
or remote areas.
3.3. Solar-thermoelectric generation of solar-thermoelectric generation
system based on the carbon nanotube paper
Owing to the high absorbance of sunlight and the outstanding ability
of solar-thermal conversion, the CNTP is promising to construct not only
a SES but also a SGS, which can generate sustainable electricity. The
schematic structure of the SGS is displayed in Fig. 5a. The SGS consists of
CNTP, a TE module (Fig. S7a, Supporting Information), and a heatsink
(Fig. S7b, Supporting Information). The optical photo of an assembled
SGS is presented in Fig. S8a (Supporting Information). In the SGS, the
CNTP placed on the TE module is used to harvest solar energy and then
convert it to thermal energy. After that, the thermal energy is quickly
transmitted to the TE module. The upper surface of TE module is heated
by CNTP, while the bottom surface is cooled by water through the
heatsink. Therefore, there is a temperature difference across the TE
module and the SGS can output electrical power via the TE effect. The
detailed test system diagram of SGS is shown in Fig. S8b (Supporting
Information). Without light irradiation, the SGS cannot generate elec­
tricity because of the ultra-small temperature difference across the TE
module. Under light irradiation (1 kW m− 2), the CNTP was heated by
simulated sunlight. Hence, the SGS generated a stable VOC of 100 mV, as
presented in Fig. 5b. The dynamic VOC curves of SGS were also measured
under different light powers (3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2) for 1800 s, as shown
in Fig. 5c. Under light irradiation, the SGS quickly reached the
maximum VOC and ISC, and then remained stable with no obvious decay
for over 1800 s. The acquired maximum VOC were 100, 298, 439, and
629 mV under light powers of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2, respectively. The
Voc was higher than that generated by polydimethylsiloxane sponge
coated with CNT/cellulose nanocrystals nanocomposite (60 mV at 1 kW
m− 2 simulated sunlight)[24]. The corresponding ISC were 17, 47, 79,
and 125 mA, respectively (Fig. S9, Supporting Information). With higher
light power, the SGS generates higher VOC and ISC. The reason is that
more light power is converted to thermal energy and then delivered to
the TE module by the CNTP, leading to a larger temperature difference
across the TE module. Hence, the higher VOC and ISC of SGS are gener­
ated under a higher light power.
The electrical properties of SGS (e.g. output power (Poutput), output
current (Ioutput), and output voltage (Voutput)) were further measured and
analyzed. The results are displayed in Fig. 5d. First of all, the similar
slopes of the current–voltage (I-V) curves manifested that the SGS had
similar internal resistances of 5.1, 6.0, 5.5, and 5.1 Ω under different
light powers of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2, respectively. Secondly, based on
the I-V curves, the power-voltage (P-V) curves were calculated and also
displayed in Fig. 5d. The maximum Poutput of SGS were 0.39, 3.49, 8.83,
and 19.61 mW under different light powers of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2,
respectively. Moreover, the maximum output power density (poutput) of
SGS was calculated and shown in Fig. 5e. The maximum poutput of SGS
were 0.24, 2.18, 5.52, and 12.26 W m− 2 respectively, which were larger
than that of solar-thermoelectric generator based on the carbon nano­
particle modified TE module[25]. These results also demonstrate that
there is more thermal energy converted and delivered from the CNTP
under the higher light power, which leads to a higher temperature dif­
ference between the upper and bottom surface of the TE module. Hence,
the SGS generates higher electric power under higher light power. Be­
sides, the solar-thermoelectric conversion efficiency (ηS.T.E. ) was esti­
mated according to the following equation[25,26]:
poutput
ηS.T.E. = , (9)
pinput
where the pinput is the input power density of light. The results were
0.02%, 0.07%, 0.11% and 0.12% under different light power densities of
8
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
1, 3, 5, and 10 kW m− 2. The results were close to that of carbon nano­
particle modified TE module based solar-thermoelectric generator[25].
Finally, to prove the stability and durability of SGS, a cycling test with
three light on/off cycles under different light powers was carried on. The
results are shown in Fig. 5f, which demonstrates that the SGS has good
cycle stability on generating solar-thermoelectric power. Although the
electric power generated by SGS is still far from large-scale practical
applications, these results provide an innovative method that can use
solar energy as only energy input to obtain clean electricity based on
CNTP.
As a proof-of-concept, a solar charging system was constructed to
demonstrate the practical applications in daily life, as presented in
Fig. 5g-i. As shown in Fig. 5g, the solar charging system consists of a SGS
(with three TE modules) and a boost converter to increase Voutput
(generated by SGS). Under light power of 5 kW m− 2, the generated
Voutput was higher than 0.9 V in 60 s and became stable at 1.1 V within
360 s. With the help of the boost converter, the output voltage increased
by boost converter (Voutput’) could be increased and stable at 5 V in 30 s.
Voutput and Voutput’ are displayed in Fig. S10 (Supporting Information).
Therefore, the electric power can be directly used for various applica­
tions, such as charging cellphones (Fig. 5h-i) and power banks (Fig. S11,
Supporting Information). It should be noted that the electric power
generation of the solar charging system can be further improved by
adding more TE modules in series/parallel on-demand. Thus, the large-
scale integrated solar charging system will be more promising for daily
use.
3.4. Electrochemical performance of the supercapacitors based on the
carbon nanotube paper
The CNTP has a high electrical conductivity (~570 S m− 1), as shown
in Fig. S12 (Supporting Information). The high conductivity, rough
surface, and porous structure of CNTP make it suitable for the electrode
material of supercapacitors. Therefore, the solid-state supercapacitors
based on the CNTP were proposed to serve as a fundamental component
of ESS. As displayed in Fig. 6a, the solid-state supercapacitor was
fabricated by two CNTP electrodes sandwiching PVA-H2SO4 electrolyte.
The detailed fabrication process is described in the Materials and
Methods Section. The fabricated solid-state supercapacitor is displayed
in Fig. 6b. The capacitance of supercapacitors based on CNTP mainly
arises from surface reactions of electrode materials, including electro­
chemical adsorption/desorption of cations (H+) and anions (SO2- 4 ) at the
electrode/electrolyte interface. The detailed electrochemical process of
CNTs-based supercapacitor during the charging and discharging process
has been illustrated in a previous report [27]. Then, the basic properties
of the CNTP supercapacitor were characterized. The detailed test system
diagram of supercapacitor is shown in Fig. S13 (Supporting Informa­
tion). First of all, the CV curves of the supercapacitor made with CNTP
are presented in Fig. 6c. The voltage of the supercapacitor during the
charging and discharging process is 0–0.8 V. The shapes of CV curves at
different scan rates are quasi-rectangular, demonstrating the electric
double layer characteristic of the supercapacitor. It also implies that the
CNTP can not only be used to harvest and convert solar energy but to
store electric energy. Next, GCD curves in different current densities are
displayed in Fig. 6d. The triangular shape of GCD curves reveals the high
Coulombic efficiency of the supercapacitor. According to GCD curves,
the corresponding CS of the supercapacitor at different current densities
were calculated. The detailed calculation method is shown in the Ma­
terials and Methods Section. The calculated results of CS are summarized
in Fig. 6e. The CS of the supercapacitor was 19.6 mF cm− 2 at the current
density of 0.05 mA cm− 2, while that was 11.2 mF cm− 2 at the current
density of 0.5 mA cm− 2. It should be noted that the CS of CNTP super­
capacitor was larger than that of the supercapacitors made with buckled
CNT film (9.52 mF cm− 2)[28] and transparent single-walled CNT film
(146 μF cm− 2)[29]. These results demonstrated that the CNTP super­
capacitor exhibited excellent electrochemical performance. The ES and
Y. Duan et al. Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306

Fig. 6. Electrochemical performance of supercapacitors based on CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the assembly process of the supercapacitor. (b) Optical photo of
prepared supercapacitor based on CNTP. (c) CV curves of supercapacitor based on CNTP at different scan rates. (d) GCD curves of supercapacitor based on CNTP at
different current densities. (e) CS of supercapacitor based on CNTP at different current densities. (f) Ragone plots of supercapacitor based on CNTP. (g) Coulombic
efficiency and capacitance retention of supercapacitor based on CNTP for 10,000 cycles. (h) Optical photo of three supercapacitors in series connection. (i) GCD
curves of ESS (in series connection) at different current densities. (j) Optical photo of three supercapacitors in parallel connection. (k) GCD curves of ESS (in parallel
connection) at different current densities.

the PS at different current densities of the supercapacitor were subse­
quently calculated and present in Fig. 6f. The PS of the supercapacitor
increased from 26.9 to 164.6 μW cm− 2, while the ES of the super­
capacitor decreased from 1.64 to 0.65 μWh cm− 2 with the current
density ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 mA cm− 2. The performed ES of the
supercapacitor was close to the previously reported flexible super­
capacitors based on stainless steel wire/polyaniline (0.95 μWh cm− 2)
[30] and multiwalled CNT fibers/ordered mesoporous carbon (1.77
μWh cm− 2)[31]. Hence, the supercapacitors made with CNTP have the
potential to be used in practical applications. Finally, the long-term
stability of the supercapacitor was evaluated by carrying out 10,000
GCD cycles at the current density of 0.5 mA cm− 2. The Coulombic ef­
ficiency and capacitance retention with cycle numbers are displayed in
Fig. 6g. The Coulombic efficiency remained 96% of the initial value after
10,000 cycles, while the capacitance retention gradually decreased to
80%. The factor causing capacity fade during cycling of the super­
capacitor is the dehydration of gel electrolytes. The dehydration will
reduce the ion migration ability of aqueous gel electrolytes, thereby
weakening the performance of supercapacitor[32].
As demonstrations for the ESS, two types of ESS were designed. One
was three supercapacitors in series connection (Fig. 6h), and the other
was three supercapacitors in parallel connection (Fig. 6j). The GCD
curves of them with different current densities are displayed in Fig. 6i, k,
respectively. The corresponding CS at different current densities are
shown in Fig. S14 (Supporting Information). The CS of the ESS in series
connection and parallel connection were calculated to be 6.7 and 50.6
mF cm− 2 respectively at the current density of 0.05 mA cm− 2. With
further arrangement design of ESS, the output voltage or current can be
greatly increased, which also makes ESS more practical in daily
applications.
3.5. The applications of hybrid energy system based on the carbon
nanotube paper
Producing freshwater from undrinkable water (e.g. contaminated
water and natural water sources) by solar-thermal evaporation process
is considered to be a sustainable and green way. Especially, this water
treatment method can utilize cost-free and abundant solar energy to
produce freshwater from sea/lake/river water. For full utilization of
solar energy, the temperature difference between water and solar
absorber emerged during the solar-thermal evaporation process can be
used to generate electric power. This low-grade thermal energy origi­
nated from solar energy is considered as a potential energy source to
generate electric power through the TE effect. Moreover, storing the
generated electric power in energy storage devices is an efficient way to
improve the sustainability and stability of output electric power. That

9
Y. Duan et al.
strategy enables us to have electric power on cloudy days or even at
night.
The devices (e.g. SES, SGS, and ESS) based on CNTP have exhibited
great potential in producing freshwater and supplying sustainable
electric energy. First of all, the SES can convert solar energy into thermal
energy and produce freshwater. Secondly, the SGS can convert solar
energy into electric power. People can directly use clean and sustainable
electric power. Also, people can even store electric power in ESS for
further use. Hence, in this section, two prototypes of HES made with
monolithic material (CNTP) are proposed to simultaneously demon­
strate the ability to produce freshwater, generate and store electric
power under sunlight irradiation.
First of all, a HES consisted of a SES and a SGS was firstly fabricated
to simultaneously demonstrating the applications of generating fresh­
water and electricity. In detail, the HES was consisted of a SES (for
freshwater generation), a SGS (with four TE modules for electricity
generation), a plastic box (for freshwater collection), a water circulatory
Fig. 7. Hybrid energy systems based on CNTP. (a) Schematic illustration of the HES (consist of SES and SGS) before and after light irradiation. (b-d) Series photos of
HES producing freshwater and electricity. (e-f) Schematic illustration of the HES (consist of SES, SGS, and ESS) charging the ESS and lighting up a light-emitting
diode (LED). (g-h) Series photos of HES charging the ESS and lighting up a LED.
10
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
system (consisted of circulating water pipe and cooling water) and a
timer, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 7a. Under light irradiation, the
SES can generate freshwater and electricity. In practical application, to
imitate the natural environment, the water circulatory system was
introduced into the HES to simulate the flowing water of natural water
sources. Fig. 7b-d shows the HES before and after light irradiation (3 kW
m− 2, 4 h). The freshwater generation rate of the HES was measured as
0.47 kg m-2h− 1. The value is lower than that within a condenser (0.84 kg
m-2h− 1, 1 kW m− 2). The reason is that the floating water takes away a
large amount of the heat converted from light, leading to the lower
temperature of the bulk of water in the HES. Therefore, there needs more
thermal energy to heat the cool water into water vapor, leading to a low
generation rate of freshwater. In the meantime, the HES can also power a
timer working for 4 h. With further design, the HES is expected to power
an electronic balance, which can monitor the production rate of fresh­
water. Hence, the excellent performances of the HES enable it to become
a hopeful way for freshwater and electricity generation in remote areas.
Y. Duan et al.
Although the SGS has broad potentials in practical applications, an
obvious disadvantage of SGS is that the output power is affected by
environmental and climatic factors. Thus, the generated electric power
is undulated and intermittent. Therefore, another HES was proposed to
solve this problem. The HES consisted of a SES (for freshwater genera­
tion), a SGS (with four TE modules for electricity generation), and an
ESS (with six supercapacitors in series for energy storage), a plastic box
(for freshwater collection), a water circulatory system (consisted of
circulating water pipe and cooling water) and a LED, as schematically
illustrated in Fig. 7e. As schematically illustrated in Fig. 7e-f, the SGS
can generate electric power under light irradiation, while the ESS can
store the generated electric power synchronously. Through storing
electric power in ESS, the stored electric power can be used on cloudy
days or even at night. In practical application, under light irradiation (3
kW m− 2), the SGS quickly generated electric power and the ESS stored
the electric power synchronously (Fig. 7g-h). After light irradiation, the
ESS was fully charged with potential up to 4.8 V (Fig. 7h). As demon­
strated in Fig. 7i, the fully charged ESS can light a red LED for over 10
min. Besides, this HES was also able to produce freshwater under light
irradiation, which was the same as the situation shown in Fig. 7b-d.
Hence, the sustainable generation of electric power and freshwater for
daily life by converting solar energy into different forms of energy (e.g.
thermal, electrical, and chemical energy) by the HES have been ach­
ieved, highlighting the superiority of multi-energy complementary.
4. Conclusions
The CNTP with rough surfaces and porous structures is fabricated by
vacuum filtration. It exhibits high sunlight absorbance, high electrical
conductivity, and excellent energy storage performance, so it is suitable
to construct the SES, SGS, ESS, and HES. The SES shows an evaporation
rate of 1.28 kg m-2h− 1 and ηS.S.G. of 83.3% under light irradiation (1 kW
m− 2). The SGS demonstrates a stable electric power generation with a
VOC of 100 mV under light irradiation (1 kW m− 2). The SES and the SGS
provide a feasible way to solve water and energy crises. The super­
capacitors made with CNTP perform the CS of 19.6 mF cm− 2. Moreover,
two prototypes of HES are designed to simultaneously produce fresh­
water (0.47 kg m-2h− 1, 3 kW m− 2), generate and store electric power (up
to 4.8 V) in one integrated system based on CNTP.
Three useful applications are proposed to demonstrate practical use.
The first application is water treatment. The freshwater production de­
vice can generate freshwater 0.84 kg m-2h− 1 under light irradiation (1
kW m− 2). It can also be used in water purification and water desalina­
tion (inorganic ions rejection larger than 99.9%). The second applica­
tion is the solar charging system with a maximum Voutput of 5 V, which
can charge cellphones and power banks on a sunny day. Thirdly, the
prototypes of HES made with monolithic material (CNTP) are proposed
to simultaneously demonstrate the ability to produce freshwater,
generate and store electric power under sunlight irradiation. These ap­
plications highlight the superiority of multi-energy (thermal energy,
electrical energy, and electrochemical energy) complementary.
In summary, we provide comprehensive experimental investigations
from the material level (CNTs) to the device level (SES, SGS, and ESS),
and further to the system level (HES). The proposed HES is a kind of
efficient system to solve the problems of discontinuity and instability of
renewable energy generation. The HES enables us to release the electric
power process optionally (on cloudy days or at night). For example, the
HES can generate freshwater and electricity in the daytime, and turn on
the lights at night. The HES integrated with energy storage capacity will
provide a simple but efficient way to produce freshwater and generate/
store electricity, particularly desirable in various remote areas.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yimin Duan: Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology,
Writing - original draft. Mingcen Weng: Investigation,
11
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Wei Zhang:
Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation. Yongqiang
Qian: Investigation, Methodology. Zhiling Luo: Investigation, Writing -
review & editing. Luzhuo Chen: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing
- review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial supports by National Natural
Science Foundation of China [51773039, 11974076], Natural Science
Foundation of Fujian Province [2020J02036, 2020J05188,
2018J06001], Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University
of Fujian Province [J1-1318].
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114306.
References:
[1] Chen C, Kuang Y, Hu L. Challenges and opportunities for solar evaporation. Joule.
2019;3(3):683–718.
[2] Lu H, Shi W, Zhao F, Zhang W, Zhang P, Zhao C, et al. High-yield and low-cost solar
water purification via hydrogel-based membrane distillation. Adv. Funct. Mater.
2021;31:2101036.
[3] Xu N, Zhu P, Sheng Y, Zhou L, Li X, Tan H, et al. Synergistic tandem solar
electricity-water generators. Joule. 2020;4(2):347–58.
[4] Xiao P, He J, Ni F, Zhang C, Liang Y, Zhou W, et al. Exploring interface confined
water flow and evaporation enables solar-thermal-electro integration towards
clean water and electricity harvest via asymmetric functionalization strategy. Nano
Energy 2020;68:104385.
[5] Shan X, Zhao A, Lin Y, Hu Y, Di Y, Liu C, et al. Low-cost, scalable, and reusable
photothermal layers for highly efficient solar steam generation and versatile energy
conversion. Advanced Sustainable Systems. 2020;4(5):1900153.
[6] Li X, Min X, Li J, Xu N, Zhu P, Zhu B, et al. Storage and recycling of interfacial solar
steam enthalpy. Joule. 2018;2(11):2477–84.
[7] Liu K, Chen Z, Lv T, Yao Y, Li N, Li H, et al. A self-supported graphene/carbon
nanotube hollow fiber for integrated energy conversion and storage. Nano-Micro
Letters. 2020;12(1):64.
[8] Luo Z, Liu C, Fan S, Liu E. A universal in situ strategy for charging supercapacitors.
J. Mater. Chem. A. 2019;7(25):15131–6.
[9] Wang X, Liu Q, Wu S, Xu B, Xu H. Multilayer polypyrrole nanosheets with self-
organized surface structures for flexible and efficient solar–thermal energy
conversion. Adv. Mater. 2019;31(19):1807716.
[10] Tobjörk D, Österbacka R. Paper electronics. Adv. Mater. 2011;23(17):1935–61.
[11] Yin Y, Liu C, Fan S. Well-constructed cnt mesh/PANI nanoporous electrode and its
thickness effect on the supercapacitor properties. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2012;116(50):
26185–9.
[12] Zhou P, Chen L, Yao L, Weng M, Zhang W. Humidity- and light-driven actuators
based on carbon nanotube-coated paper and polymer composite. Nanoscale. 2018;
10(18):8422–7.
[13] Yang Y, Yang X, Fu L, Zou M, Cao A, Du Y, et al. Two-dimensional flexible bilayer
janus membrane for advanced photothermal water desalination. ACS Energy Lett
2018;3(5):1165–71.
[14] Li T, Liu H, Zhao X, Chen G, Dai J, Pastel G, et al. Scalable and highly efficient
mesoporous wood-based solar steam generation device: localized heat, rapid water
transport. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018;28(16):1707134.
[15] Chang Y, Wang Z, Shi Y, Ma X, Ma L, Zhang Y, et al. Hydrophobic W18O49
mesocrystal on hydrophilic PTFE membrane as an efficient solar steam generation
device under one sun. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2018;6(23):10939–46.
[16] Chen Q, Pei Z, Xu Y, Li Z, Yang Y, Wei Y, et al. A durable monolithic polymer foam
for efficient solar steam generation. Chem. Sci. 2018;9(3):623–8.
[17] Yao J, Yang G. An efficient solar-enabled 2D layered alloy material evaporator for
seawater desalination. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2018;6(9):3869–76.
[18] Chen C, Li Y, Song J, Yang Z, Kuang Y, Hitz E, et al. Highly flexible and efficient
solar steam generation device. Adv. Mater. 2017;29(30):1701756.
[19] Fu Y, Wang G, Ming X, Liu X, Hou B, Mei T, et al. Oxygen plasma treated graphene
aerogel as a solar absorber for rapid and efficient solar steam generation. Carbon
2018;130:250–6.
[20] Tian L, Luan J, Liu K, Jiang Q, Tadepalli S, Gupta MK, et al. Plasmonic biofoam: a
versatile optically active material. Nano Lett. 2015;16(1):609–16.
Y. Duan et al.
[21] Huang L, Pei J, Jiang H, Hu X. Water desalination under one sun using graphene-
based material modified ptfe membrane. Desalination 2018;442:1–7.
[22] Guidelines for drinking-water quality: fourth edition incorporating the first
addendum. 4th edition ed: Geneva: World Health Organization 2017.
[23] A global overview of national regulations and standards for drinking-water quality:
Geneva: World Health Organization 2018.
[24] Zhu L, Ding T, Gao M, Peh CKN, Ho GW. Shape conformal and thermal insulative
organic solar absorber sponge for photothermal water evaporation and
thermoelectric power generation. Adv. Energy Mater. 2019;9(22):1900250.
[25] Zhang X, Gao W, Su X, Wang F, Liu B, Wang J, et al. Conversion of solar power to
chemical energy based on carbon nanoparticle modified photo-thermoelectric
generator and electrochemical water splitting system. Nano Energy 2018;48:
481–8.
[26] Zong L, Li M, Li C. Intensifying solar-thermal harvest of low-dimension biologic
nanostructures for electric power and solar desalination. Nano Energy 2018;50:
308–15.
12
Energy Conversion and Management 241 (2021) 114306
[27] Wang Y, Song Y, Xia Y. Electrochemical capacitors: mechanism, materials, systems,
characterization and applications. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2016;45(21):5925–50.
[28] Yu J, Lu W, Pei S, Gong K, Wang L, Meng L, et al. Omnidirectionally stretchable
high-performance supercapacitor based on isotropic buckled carbon nanotube
films. ACS Nano 2016;10(5):5204–11.
[29] Niu Z, Zhou W, Chen J, Feng G, Li H, Hu Y, et al. A repeated halving approach to
fabricate ultrathin single-walled carbon nanotube films for transparent
supercapacitors. Small. 2013;9(4):518–24.
[30] Fu Y, Wu H, Ye S, Cai X, Yu X, Hou S, et al. Integrated power fiber for energy
conversion and storage. Energ. Environ. Sci. 2013;6(3):805.
[31] Ren J, Bai W, Guan G, Zhang Y, Peng H. Flexible and weaveable capacitor wire
based on a carbon nanocomposite fiber. Adv. Mater. 2013;25(41):5965–70.
[32] Liu L, Dou Q, Sun Y, Lu Y, Zhang Q, Meng J, et al. A moisture absorbing gel
electrolyte enables aqueous and flexible supercapacitors operating at high
temperatures. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2019;7(35):20398–404.