| 초록 |
As water scarcity has always been a problem worldwide, the desalinate of seawater has become important. The desalination of seawater consumes a very large amount of energy, and this is a problem to be solved. Since hydrogels can provide solutions for desalination, distillation, and purification of water, various studies have been conducted. Here, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is used since it has a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at 32 °C and has a potential to absorb water at night and discharge water during the day. There are previous studies that a composite of PNIPAM and PDMS swell water equally below LCST, but deswell water much faster above LCST than pure PNIPAM. Therefore, it can act as a valve. This study aims to make vertical hydrogel water channels for effective solar evaporator. We stack hydrogels and their composites up and adjust their pore sizes to maximize the amount of water transport and evaporation. |
