Nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric as photothermal membrane for solar interface evaporation

Abstract

• Nanocarbon coating with complex structure was successfully prepared on basalt fiber. • The light absorption of nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric is significantly improved. • The nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric has excellent evaporation performance. • The evaporation rate of nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric is 1.79 kg/m 2 ·h under 1 sun. Solar interface evaporation is a kind of high-efficient way to obtain fresh water. Light absorption performance of interface evaporator is critical. Here, nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric is successfully prepared by the method of the thermal decomposition as the photothermal layer. The nanocarbon coating with complex structures grow on the surface of basalt fiber, which will form “light traps” in the photothermal layer. Under one sun illumination, the nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric had the maximum evaporation rate of 1.79 kg/m 2 ·h, which is equal to 6 times of simulated seawater’s evaporation rate. The evaporation efficiency of nanocarbon-coated basalt fabric was up to 94.5 %. This research provides new ideas and methods in solar interface evaporation area.