Facile Preparation of a Carbon-Based Hybrid Film for Efficient Solar-Driven Interfacial Water Evaporation

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 13; no. 28; pp. 33427 - 33436
• Main Authors: Sun, Hanxue, Li, Yuanzhen, Li, Jiyan, Zhu, Zhaoqi, Zhang, Wanting, Liang, Weidong, Ma, Chonghua, Li, An
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 21.07.2021
• Subjects: Applications of Polymer, Composite, and Coating Materials; water purification; hybrid film; poly(vinyl alcohol); salt-assisted assembling method; carbon soot; solar steam generation
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c06226

Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation is one promising technology for seawater desalination and sewage purification because it offers a feasible and sustainable strategy to relieve global water scarcity. Herein, a novel hybrid film composed of recycled carbon soot and poly­(vinyl alcohol) is developed by a very simple, green, and highly scalable “salt-assisted” assembling method. The hybrid film possesses characteristics with a porous structure, superhydrophilicity, ∼100% light absorption, and low thermal conductivity, which can effectively convert light into heat under solar illumination. Consequently, the hybrid film can achieve a photothermal conversion efficiency of 91.5% under a stimulated solar irradiation of 1 kW m–2. Furthermore, the hybrid film can be applied for seawater desalination and dye wastewater purification. The findings of our work not only provide a new photothermal platform with high light-to-thermal conversion ability and good reusability but also open a new avenue for the applications of carbon soot-based hybrid films in solar-assisted water evaporation and sewage purification.