Abstract
Cokes are inevitably generated during zeolite-catalyzed reactions as deleterious side products that deactivate the catalyst.
In this study, we in-situ converted cokes into carbons within the confined microporous zeolite structures and evaluated
their performances as absorbing materials for solar-driven water evaporation. With a properly chosen zeolite, the cokederived
carbons possessed ordered interconnected pores and tunable compositions. We found that the porous structure
and the oxygen content in as-prepared carbons had important influences on their energy conversion efficiencies. Among
various investigated carbon materials, the carbon derived from the methanol-to-olefins reaction over zeolite Beta gave the
highest conversion efficiency of 72% under simulated sunlight with equivalent solar intensity of 2 suns. This study not only
demonstrates the great potential of traditionally useless cokes for solar thermal applications but also provides new
insights into the design of carbon-based absorbing materials for efficient solar evaporation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6860-6865 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | J. Mater. Chem. A |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the CCF grants from Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center (AMPMC) and KAUST Solar Center (KSC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Yu Han thanks the Key international science and technology cooperation project of Hainan province (kjhz2014-08) for supporting a meeting for initial discussions.