Article
Engineering, Chemical
Xiaofang Chen, Yin-Bo Zhu, Hao Yu, Jefferson Zhe Liu, Christopher D. Easton, Zhouyou Wang, Yaoxin Hu, Zongli Xie, Heng-An Wu, Xiwang Zhang, Dan Li, Huanting Wang
Summary: The scalable fabrication of ultrathin graphene membranes with precisely controlled subnanometer pores using graphene oxide nanosheet and polymer co-assembly on a porous ceramic substrate has shown unprecedented molecular-sieving water evaporation properties, achieving high water evaporation flux and salt rejection rates. This work provides new insights into water transport and evaporation through graphene subnanometer pores and offers a new strategy for membrane design for water desalination and other evaporation separations.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bo Yang, Zhiming Zhang, Peitao Liu, Xiankai Fu, Jiantao Wang, Yu Cao, Ruolan Tang, Xiran Du, Wanqi Chen, Song Li, Haile Yan, Zongbin Li, Xiang Zhao, Gaowu Qin, Xing-Qiu Chen, Liang Zuo
Summary: This study proposes a method to greatly enhance solar absorption by introducing a flat-band electronic structure. By incorporating metallic oxide λ-Ti3O5 particles into a three-dimensional porous hydrogel-based evaporator and utilizing a special structure, efficient solar-to-steam generation is achieved, providing a new solution for seawater desalination and wastewater treatment.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Elisa Y. M. Ang, Peng Cheng Wang, William Toh, Teng Yong Ng
Summary: Although predicting the evaporation trajectory of droplets is crucial, there is still a technological gap in accurately doing so, especially for nanodroplets. This study utilizes atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to observe and quantify the evaporation of suspended water nanodroplets. The findings indicate that continuum analysis overestimates the evaporation rate of nanodroplets and suggests the use of data-driven approaches instead of expensive simulations for predicting their behavior.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wan-Chi Lee, Anshaj Ronghe, Luis Francisco Villalobos, Shiqi Huang, Mostapha Dakhchoune, Mounir Mensi, Kuang-Jung Hsu, K. Ganapathy Ayappa, Kumar Varoon Agrawal
Summary: This study demonstrates that placing angstrom-sized oxygen-functionalized graphene nanopores at the liquid-vapor interface can greatly enhance water evaporation rates. The presence of these nanopores decreases the free energy barrier for water evaporation and increases the rotational and translational dynamics of water molecules, leading to a significant increase in evaporation flux. These findings have potential applications in energy-efficient technologies relying on water evaporation.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Luis Ruiz Pestana, Teresa Head-Gordon
Summary: The evaporation mechanism of nanodroplets is different from that of macroscopic water droplets. Regardless of hydrophobicity, the evaporation rate of nanodroplets does not follow the traditional mode and their evaporation behavior is characterized by non-equilibrium wetting. The vapor concentration on the surface of nanodroplets does not reach a steady state. The evaporative lifetime of nanodroplets is directly related to the hydrophobicity of the substrate.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Sunmiao Fang, Jidong Li, Ying Xu, Chun Shen, Wanlin Guo
Summary: Evaporation of ethanol can generate sustainable volt-level potential in an environment without streaming potential, offering a new way to harvest environmental energy.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shiyu Zuo, Dongya Li, Zeyu Guan, Fan Yang, Dongsheng Xia, Mingzhi Huang
Summary: The study explores the application of a single-atom copper-carbon system in solar-water evaporation, demonstrating its ability to effectively promote water evaporation rate. Experimental results show that atomic-level dispersed Cu-N coordination can enhance carrier migration, thus improving light absorption and nonradiative relaxation energy release effects, effectively driving the water evaporation process.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chenyang Dang, Hua Wang, Yunteng Cao, Jing Shen, Jia Zhang, Letian Lv, Guiyin Xu, Meifang Zhu
Summary: The research team addressed the issue of salt accumulation in solar desalination systems by utilizing the easy assembly of microstructural units, proposing a solution for large-scale manufacturing of salt-resistant systems. The resulting system showed high energy efficiency and stability, offering a low-cost method for freshwater production.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bekir Sami Yilbas, Mubarak Yakubu, Abba Abdulhamid Abubakar, Hussain Al-Qahtani, Ahmet Sahin, Abdullah Al-Sharafi
Summary: The study focused on the motion of water droplets in an inclined hydrophobic wedge with different wetting states, finding that the droplets exhibit rotational and rolling motions influenced by the shear rate at the interface. The velocity predictions of droplet fluid flow were in agreement with experimental results, with tangential momentum generated by droplet adhesion creating spinning motion on the rolling droplet.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Peng Bai, Xiaojun Guo
Summary: This study developed a 60-year high-resolution evaporation dataset using the Penman model for small shallow water bodies in China. The accuracy of the model was improved by correcting the wind function and incorporating changes in heat storage. The dataset and its components can be accessed for estimating evaporation in water bodies of varying sizes.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Mechanics
An Zou, Shalabh C. Maroo
Summary: Molecular dynamics simulations were used to estimate the equilibrium pressure of liquid confined in nanopores. The pressure was found to be highly sensitive to the pore size, with even a small change in size leading to significant shifts from positive to negative values. Additionally, the solid-liquid interaction dominated the pressure in the first liquid layer adjacent to the surface.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shuang Li, Zhiyuan Xi, Li Yu, Hongjie Yan, Meijie Chen
Summary: Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has gained attention for its environmentally friendly properties. A multiphysics model using finite element method is developed to study thermal management and improve solar evaporation. Results show that tuning thermal loss, local heating, convective mass transfer, and evaporation area can enhance evaporation performance. Experimental results confirm that the solar evaporation ratio can be significantly improved with a 3D interface and thermal insulation between the interface and bottom water. These findings provide design principles for solar evaporation systems.
Article
Mechanics
Ran Li, Ziqing Yan, Guodong Xia
Summary: This study reports a novel investigation of the inter-pore interference effect in nano-porous evaporation, elucidating the changes in the net evaporation rate from individual nanopores when the inter-pore distance, neighboring nanopore diameter, or liquid temperature were varied. Molecular simulation results reveal that reducing inter-pore distance can enhance evaporation rate by increasing vapor convection effect and suppressing condensation flux. This interference effect is more pronounced at lower evaporation intensity, with the evaporation flux differing by up to 25% from the one-dimensional case.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andreas Velte-Schafer, Eric Laurenz, Gerrit Fueldner
Summary: In this research article, a simplified calculation method is proposed to predict the efficiency and heat flow rates of adsorption heat pumps and chillers. Experimental data validation shows that the method has good prediction accuracy.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tao Zhang, Jianhong Li, Junbing Pu, Weijie Huo, Sainan Wang
Summary: Soil water plays a crucial role in the ecological restoration of karst areas affected by rocky desertification caused by deforestation. This study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics and modes of water flow, as well as the seasonal variations in soil water content and stable isotopes in a small karst basin in southwest China. The results showed clear seasonal variations in soil water content and stable isotopes, with shallow soil water exhibiting stronger seasonality than deeper soil water. This information is important for effective soil water management in areas experiencing seasonal drought.
ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chun-Chieh Yu, Sho Imoto, Takakazu Seki, Kuo-Yang Chiang, Shumei Sun, Mischa Bonn, Yuki Nagata
Summary: This study uses phase- and polarization-resolved sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to accurately determine the molecular orientation at interfaces. By combining multiple SFG datasets from different vibrational modes and a multidimensional orientational distribution, the molecular orientation can be determined. The method is successfully applied to formic acid molecules at the air-water interface.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Max Lukas, Ralph Schwidetzky, Rosemary J. Eufemio, Mischa Bonn, Konrad Meister
Summary: The exceptional ice nucleation activity of bacterial ice nucleators is highlighted in this perspective, emphasizing the importance of functional aggregation of ice-nucleating proteins (INPs) anchored to the outer bacterial cell membrane. It is crucial to consider the role of the bacterial cell membrane and environmental conditions in facilitating precise functional aggregation of INPs, and interdisciplinary approaches combining various tools are needed to study changes at the protein level.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Junren Wang, Shuai Fu, Heng Zhang, Robert Graf, Henry Halim, Shuai Chen, Wenhao Zheng, Mischa Bonn, Katharina Landfester, Andreas Riedinger, Hai Wang
Summary: This study reports a novel solution-processed approach to fabricate high-quality, large-area alpha-Ag2S thin films. Ultrafast terahertz conductivity measurements show efficient charge transport in the films. Additionally, introducing poly(vinyl alcohol) enables the synthesis of free-standing alpha-Ag2S thin films for flexible optoelectronics.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Marvin P. Bernhardt, Yuki Nagata, Nico F. A. van der Veg
Summary: The use of Lennard-Jones potential in computer simulations of aqueous electrolyte solutions is common, but it fails to accurately represent the local properties of ion hydration shells. Effective pair potentials derived from ab initio MD data offer a promising alternative to represent these properties and local interactions of specific ions.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shuai Fu, Enquan Jin, Hiroki Hanayama, Wenhao Zheng, Heng Zhang, Lucia Di Virgilio, Matthew A. Addicoat, Markus Mezger, Akimitsu Narita, Mischa Bonn, Klaus Muellen, Hai Wang
Summary: Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) are crystalline porous polymers with well-defined open nanochannels. This study reveals that TPB-TFB COF thin films exhibit high photoconductivity with long charge scattering time and high charge carrier mobility at room temperature.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Wenhao Zheng, Boya Sun, Dongqi Li, Sai Manoj Gali, Heng Zhang, Shuai Fu, Lucia Di Virgilio, Zichao Li, Sheng Yang, Shengqiang Zhou, David Beljonne, Minghao Yu, Xinliang Feng, Hai Wang, Mischa Bonn
Summary: MXenes are promising layered materials for electrochemical energy storage and (opto-)electronic applications. By combining ultrafast terahertz and static electrical transport measurements, a unifying picture of charge transport in MXenes has been presented, revealing both short- and long-range transport characteristics.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yongkang Wang, Takakazu Seki, Xuan Liu, Xiaoqing Yu, Chun-Chieh Yu, Katrin F. Domke, Johannes Hunger, Marc T. M. Koper, Yunfei Chen, Yuki Nagata, Mischa Bonn
Summary: We used HD-SFG spectroscopy to directly probe the interfacial water at the graphene electrode supported on CaF2. The observed phase transition-like variations in the HD-SFG spectra were not due to the charging/discharging of graphene, but rather the CaF2 substrate through pseudocapacitive process. The potential-dependent spectra were similar to the pH-dependent spectra, indicating that the pseudocapacitive behavior was associated with a local pH change induced by water dissociation between CaF2 and graphene.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaoqing Yu, Kuo-Yang Chiang, Chun-Chieh Yu, Mischa Bonn, Yuki Nagata
Summary: Insights into the microscopic structure of aqueous interfaces are important for understanding various processes on the water surface. The researchers used HD-SFG spectroscopy to probe these interfaces and showed the importance of correcting the measured spectra for local electromagnetic field effects. They compared different models to obtain an accurate representation of the interfacial water response and found that the Lorentz model provides a straightforward method for obtaining the molecular response in the hydrogen-bonded region.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Kazuki Inoue, Yair Litman, David M. Wilkins, Yuki Nagata, Masanari Okuno
Summary: The impact of vibrational coupling on water spectra is studied using hyper-Raman (HR) spectroscopy and machine learning. Isotopic dilution reduces the HR bandwidth, but the coupling effect is smaller compared to IR and Raman spectra. Machine learning HR spectra reveal that intermolecular coupling plays a major role in broadening the bandwidth, while intramolecular coupling has negligible impact, consistent with IR and Raman spectra. This study demonstrates the limited effect of intramolecular vibrations, independent of selection rules in vibrational spectroscopy.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Takakazu Seki, Chun-Chieh Yu, Kuo-Yang Chiang, Alessandro Greco, Xiaoqing Yu, Fumiki Matsumura, Mischa Bonn, Yuki Nagata
Summary: In typical aqueous systems, multiple ion species are co-solvated, and these ions at the water-air interface can have significant impacts on chemical reactivity, aerosol formation, climate, and water odor. Through sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, researchers have quantified the relative surface activity of two co-solvated ions and found that hydrophobic ions tend to be speciated to the water interface due to the presence of hydrophilic ions. The speciation of ions at electrolyte solution interfaces is determined by the solvation energy difference between the ions and the intrinsic surface propensity of ions.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Pankaj Seliya, Mischa Bonn, Maksim Grechko
Summary: This study focuses on the interaction between quantum-mechanical systems and fluctuating thermal environments, providing insights into their coupling through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. The experimental part involves spectroscopy measurements to directly observe the coupling between quantum oscillators and low-frequency modes. The theoretical part introduces a mixed quantum-classical formalism to describe the sample response. This approach enables the quantitative and mode-specific analysis of coupled quantum and classical dynamics in complex chemical systems.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yongkang Wang, Yuki Nagata, Mischa Bonn
Summary: Graphene, as a transparent two-dimensional conductive electrode, has brought new perspectives to electrochemical systems. The substrate plays a crucial role in determining the water organization and wetting behavior of graphene. Surface-specific spectroscopy study reveals that the charging of graphene is decoupled from the charging of its substrate.
FARADAY DISCUSSIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Kris Strunge, Fani Madzharova, Frank Jensen, Tobias Weidner, Yuki Nagata
Summary: Vibrational sum frequency generation (vSFG) spectroscopy is widely used to probe protein structure at interfaces. Researchers demonstrate how vSFG spectra can be accurately modeled using a surface-specific velocity-velocity scheme and show excellent agreement with experimental data, providing insight into the relationship between protein structure and their amide I response.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Menno Demmenie, Paul Kolpakov, Yuki Nagata, Sander Woutersen, Daniel Bonn
Summary: The surface of ice has scratch healing ability, where micrometer-deep scratches spontaneously disappear by thermal relaxation within approximately an hour. Sublimation from and condensation onto the ice surface are found to be the dominant scratch-healing mechanism. The scratch-healing kinetics shows a strong temperature dependence, consistent with the proposed sublimation mechanism.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2022)