Application of Photothermal Driven Hydrogel in Waste water Desalination

Abstract

Water shortage is becoming one of the major social concerns. Evaporation and distillation of wastewater contribute to deal with this problem, while hydrogel, which is a macromolecular polymer, facilitates the evaporation and distillation. Acrylamide (AAm) can undergo addition polymerization whose product can be used to manufacture hydrogel with water and carbon nano tubes. Carbon nano tubes (CNT), which are very close to blackbodies, can increase the thermal absorption of hydrogels. It is the aim of this study to discuss and analyses the proportions of the ingredients, including AAm, CNT and water, and propose the proportions that have the strongest evaporation efficiency, swelling ability and water retention capacity. It was investigated that hydrogel with 0% of CNT, 20% of AAm and 80% of water has the strongest swelling ability, and hydrogel with 0.5% of CNT, 25% of AAm and 74.5% of water has the strongest water retention. It was also proved that adding carbon nano tubes can significantly improve the evaporation efficiency during the distillation process. This study has the significant potential for application to wastewater treatment. It is hoped that this study can reship and enrich wastewater treatment methods.