Diatom-Inspired TiO₂-PANi-Decorated Bilayer Photothermal Foam for Solar-Driven Clean Water Generation

Abstract

Interfacial solar-driven evaporation provides one of the most promising green and sustainable technologies to deal with the knotty water crisis by extracting vapor from a variety of water sources powered by solar energy. Advanced photothermal materials play critical roles in interfacial solar-driven evaporation by photothermal conversion and heat localization. Herein, inspired by the unique hierarchical structure and lightharvesting function of diatoms, we propose a novel photothermal material with a diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure derived from TiO 2 -PANidecorated bilayer melamine foam (TiO 2 -PANi@MF) for solar-driven clean water generation. The diatom-like hierarchical nanostructured TiO 2 -PANi@MF can realize full-spectrum light absorption and photothermal conversion by enhancing multiple light reflection and light scattering. Thanks to the diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure, TiO 2 -PANi@MF not only impressively achieves an evaporation rate of 2.12 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 sun irradiation but also shows a high solar steam conversion efficiency up to 88.9%. Notably, the TiO 2 -PANi composite also endows TiO 2 -PANi@MF with photocatalytic degradation capability. Apart from the excellent steam generation capability, optimized TiO 2 -PANi@MF also provides the high photocatalytic efficiency of dye degradation and maintains a high evaporation rate of more than 2 kg m −2 h −1 . We believe that the proposed photothermal material with a diatom-like hierarchical nanostructure can envision promising practical applications in seawater desalination and sewage purification.

Integrated Multi-Layered Fabric with Tunable Water Supply to the Photothermal Conversion Layer for an Efficient Solar Water Evaporation

“…In recent years, using solar energy to localize the heat at the water/air interface to drive the rapid evaporation of water has become very popular. − It has significantly enhanced the efficiency of steam generation and has become a rapidly growing research direction (Figure ). − So far, people have made substantial progress in fabricating high-efficiency solar steam generators through careful design, efficient light absorption, thermal management, and salt rejection strategies. ,− The preparation of a closed-cell 3D polymer foam via a controlled gas foaming technique, natural sunflower stalk pith with zwitterionic hydrogel coating, and diatom-inspired TiO 2 -PANi-decorated bilayer photothermal foam for solar-driven clean water generation are developed. ,, However, there are still huge challenges to make an integrated solar steam generator with multiple advantages of low cost and long-lasting durability …”

A mild, versatile and time-saving interfacial gelation blackening strategy for fabricating high-quality 3D porous solar steam evaporators

“…3i). 22,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] These results rmly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed interfacial gelation blackening method to improve the solar driven vapor generation performance, as well as the versatility for different materials.…”

A Review on Photothermal Conversion of Solar Energy with Nanomaterials and Nanostructures: From Fundamentals to Applications

“…However, by introducing oxygen vacancies, the white TiO 2 powder changed into a black TiO 2 one. [51,[76][77][78][79] Accordingly, its cutoff wavelength is transferred from ultraviolet light into infrared light. As a result, the light absorption of oxygen-vacancy-rich TiO 2 is highly enhanced, which enables a wide range of applications.…”