The
textile industry has been considered as one of the polluting
industries, producing a large amount of textile waste and CO2 emissions each year. Recycling of waste fabric has attracted more
research interest in recent years. Herein, renewable polydopamine
(PDA)-functionalized cellulose aerogels (CAs) have been designed by
a feasible and green way for clean water generation. With the polymerization
of PDA on the surface, which possesses excellent photothermal conversion
performance and water purification ability, the resulting CA could
achieve a high light absorption of 96.5% with the evaporation rate
of 2.74 kg m–2 h–1 under 1 sun.
Meanwhile, the solar steam generator with the increasing height can
absorb energy from adjacent ambient air to strengthen the vapor generation.
The features of renewable CAs can achieve efficient water evaporation,
which combined with their low material cost and recycling, offer promise
in reducing not only energy consumption but also the environmental
footprint of cotton textiles.
Solar steam generation has been considered a promising
approach
for using renewable solar energy to produce clean water from seawater
and wastewater. It shows great potential for alleviating water shortages.
However, salt accumulation and system longevity are challenges which
impede the widespread use of evaporators. This paper reports a stable
Janus evaporator with thickness controllable hydrophilic and hydrophobic
layers based on cellulose composite aerogels, which were extracted
from waste cotton fabric by a two-step freeze-drying process. The
obtained glutaraldehyde cross-linked carbon nanotubes/cellulose Janus
aerogel exhibited an attractive solar steam generation rate of 1.81
kg·m–2·h–1 and a light-to-vapor
efficiency of up to 92.5% in 1 sun illumination. Moreover, the Janus
solar steam generator could pledge stable and sustainable solar-driven
water evaporation performance within a 10 h test, showing a high salt-resistant
property in simulated seawater. In addition, the developed solar evaporator
also had a good purification effect on dye wastewater. These findings
suggest its potential ability for seawater desalination and wastewater
purification.
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