Electrically Driven Interfacial Evaporation for High-Efficiency Steam Generation and Sterilization

Electrically driven steam generation is a critical process for many heating-related applications such as sterilization and food processing. Current systems, which rely on heating up the bulk water to generate steam, face the dilemma in achieving a large evaporation flux and fast thermal response. Herein, we report a self-floating electrically driven interfacial evaporator for fast high-efficiency steam generation independent of the amount of loaded bulk water in the system. Through localized heating of the wicked water at the air–water interface, the evaporator has achieved an electrical-to-steam energy conversion efficiency of ∼90% at a heating power density of 10 kW/m2 and a fast thermal response of 20 s. The interfacial evaporation design not only achieves a high evaporation efficiency within a broad range of heating power densities by using different wicking materials, but also enables attaining a high evaporation temperature under low heating power densities by tuning the ratio of the vapor outlet area and the evaporation surface area. By integrating an interfacial evaporator within a sanitizer, the resultant system has demonstrated a faster steam temperature rise and superior steam sterilization performance than the commercial bulk heating-based approach.