Ni-Co co-doped SnO2 nanomaterial coated polyurethane foam as a cost-efficient interfacial evaporator for solar steam generation

Abstract

In this work, Nickel and cobalt (Ni-Co) are co-doped with Tin oxide (SnO2) to prepare 1 wt% co-doped SnO2, 3 wt% co-doped SnO2 and 5 wt% co-doped SnO2 nanomaterials (NCS-1, NCS-3 and NCS-5) respectively. It is then used in interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG). The evaporation rate and evaporation efficiency of NCS-3 coated polyurethane foam evaporator is 1.334 kg m-2h−1 and 83.62 %. From the observations, Ni-Co co-doped SnO2 nanomaterials performance is much higher than pure SnO2. The light absorbance abilities and band gap tuning of Ni-Co co-dopant can be attributed to the improved performance of ISSG. The long-term stability of NCS-3 sample is tested under 1 kW/m2. Eventually, all the samples have proven the ability to reduce the ion content in seawater and dye removal. We suggest Ni-Co co-doped SnO2 nanomaterial is a cost effective for energy conversion applications.