A hydrophilic carbon foam/molybdenum disulfide composite as a self-floating solar evaporator

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 2181 - 2189
• Main Authors: Mohseni Ahangar, Ali, Hedayati, Mohammad Ali, Maleki, Mahdi, Ghanbari, Hajar, Valanezhad, Alireza, Watanabe, Ikuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 06.01.2023; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Boilers; Carbon; Chemistry; Desalination; Electromagnetic absorption; Evaporation; Evaporators; Hydrophilicity; Luminous intensity; Melamine; Molybdenum; Molybdenum disulfide; Optoelectronics; Wastewater treatment; Water vapor; Wettability
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ra07810d

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has gained increasing attention as an emerging and sustainable technology for wastewater treatment and desalinization. The carbon/molybdenum disulfide (C/MoS 2 ) composite has attracted more attention due to its outstanding light absorption capability and optoelectronic properties as a solar steam generator. However, the hydrophobic nature of carbon and MoS 2 -based materials hinders their wettability, which is crucial to the effective and facile operation of a solar generator of steam. Herein, a pH-controlled hydrothermal method was utilized to deposit a promising photothermal MoS 2 coating on melamine-derived carbon foams (CFs). The hydrophilic CF/MoS 2 composite, which can easily be floatable on the water surface, is a high-efficiency solar steam evaporator with a rapid increase in temperature under photon irradiation. Due to the localized heat confinement effect, the self-floating composite foam on the surface of water has the potential to produce a significant temperature differential. The porous structure effectively facilitates fast water vapor escape, leading to an impressively high evaporation efficiency of 94.5% under a light intensity of 1000 W m −2 . Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has gained increasing attention as an emerging and sustainable technology for wastewater treatment and desalinization.