Green-synthesizing Ag nanoparticles by watermelon peel extract and their application in solar-driven interfacial evaporation for seawater desalination

Abstract

Ag nanoparticles displayed a more attractive application in solar-driven interfacial evaporation for seawater desalination, but their synthesis process was expensive and detrimental to the environment due to the consumption of chemicals. In this work, we green-synthesized Ag nanoparticles using watermelon peel extract as reducing agent, while the membrane with Ag nanoparticles was prepared for solar-driven interfacial evaporation. Moreover, the evaporation performance of the membranes with different Ag nanoparticles loadings was investigated, as well as the reusability and desalination application was also explored. The experimental results showed that the membrane with Ag nanoparticles loading of 0.05 g exhibited superior evaporation performance, corresponding to the evaporation rate of 1.37 kg m−2h−1 and the evaporation efficiency of 89.3%, respectively. In addition, the membrane with Ag nanoparticles possessed an excellent recyclability and concentration of ions in the desalinated seawater reached the potable water standard. Our research demonstrated that Ag nanoparticles green-synthesized by watermelon peel extract was an ideal candidate applied in solar-driven interfacial evaporation for seawater desalination.