Reduced Graphene Oxide/Carbon Fiber Composite Membrane for Self-floating Solar-thermal Steam Production

Abstract

Solar-thermal water evaporation has attracted increasing attention owing to the promising potential to solve the global clean water and energy crisis. But, the development of this strategy is limited by the lack of materials with high solar-thermal conversion efficiency, local heating of superficial water, easy preparation and low cost. Herein, we proposed a facile strategy to prepare a reduced graphene oxide/carbon fiber composite membrane, denoted as RGO/CF membrane. The surface of the RGO/CF membrane was highly hydrophobic, endowing the composite membrane with the self-floating ability on the water without any assistance. The light absorbance ability achieved as high as ca. 98% in the wavelength range of 300–1200 nm. The steam evaporation efficiency under the illumination of 3-sun was 97%, generating water steam at a rate of 4.54 kg·m−2·h−1. Moreover, the solar-thermal steam production rate showed high stability during successive 30 cycle tests.