Interfacial solar-driven vapor generation is considered to be a promising technology to produce freshwater from non-potable water. However, when source water contains organic pollutants, the solar-driven water evaporation process might...
Converting plastics into functional carbonaceous materials
for
solar energy conversion and storage has emerged as a prospective solution
to concurrently advanced waste plastics upcycling and solar energy
exploitation. However, synthesizing efficient carbon-based photothermal
materials with well-defined shapes from waste plastics remains challenging.
Herein, we propose metal–organic framework-derived carbonization
strategy to upcycle waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) into a porous
carbon cuboid (PCC) for interfacial solar-driven water–thermoelectricity
cogeneration. PCC with well-controlled shapes is readily prepared
from carbonization of a Ca-metal–organic framework cuboid derived
from recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate). The size and porous structure
of the PCC are facilely regulated by changing the carbonization temperature
(700–900 °C). Owing to abundant hierarchical micro-/meso-/macropores,
unique cuboid morphology, and many oxygen-containing groups of the
PCC, the PCC-based solar evaporator reveals high light absorptivity,
reduced evaporation enthalpy, low heat conductivity, and superior
photothermal conversion capability. Thanks to these advantages, it
displays an ultra-high evaporation rate (2.49 kg m–2 h–1) under 1 sun illumination, surpassing many
recent evaporators. Besides, an outdoor solar-driven desalination
apparatus achieves the freshwater generation amount per unit area
of 7.1 kg. Significantly, the evaporator combined with a thermoelectric
module generates a voltage of 201 mV at the illumination intensity
of 1 kW m–2, with a maximum power density of 0.8
W m–2. This work not merely offers new opportunities
for sustainable electricity and freshwater supply from renewable solar
energy but also contributes to upcycling waste plastics and achieving
carbon neutrality.
Upcycling waste plastics into advanced semiconductor photocatalysts provides a new strategy to reasonably and economically solve the huge amount of waste plastics, which remains challenging. Herein, a carbon nitride-based donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated copolymer by copolymerization of dicyandiamide and terephthalic acid from discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using Zn(OH) 2 as catalyst and template at 360-440 °C is synthesized. The morphology and structure of the conjugated copolymer are well regulated by the calcination temperature. The resultant conjugated copolymer exhibits merits of high light absorption and low electron-hole recombination probability. Consequently, it works excellently in the persulfate-based advanced oxidation process for visible light-driven photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. The kinetic constant (3.4 × 10 −2 min −1 ) is 40.5 and 2.3 times that of the conjugated copolymer system and persulfate system, respectively. Furthermore, the reactive species (including •OH, SO 4 •− , •O 2 − , 1 O 2 , and h + ) and degradation intermediates of tetracycline are analyzed to expound its degradation process. This work not only pioneers design guidelines on upcycling of waste plastics in a sustainable manner, but also provides a facile strategy to synthesize carbon nitride-based D-A conjugated copolymers for the efficient activation of persulfate-based advanced oxidation process in wastewater treatment.
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