Salt-resistance holocellulose-based solar steam evaporator for desalination brine water

Abstract

Interfacial solar-powered water evaporation is a cost-effective and sustainable approach using solar energy for seawater desalination. Nevertheless, salt accumulation during solar desalination generally restricts the widespread application of solar vapor generation. Herein, taking merits of the excellent hydrophilicity and inherent porosity of holocellulose (HC), An excellent salt-resistant solar steam evaporator for long-term interfacial solar water desalination was fabricated by decorating polypyrrole (PPy) on the surface of HC. Due to the broadband light absorbance of PPy and the superhydrophilic HC substrate, the PPy-HC evaporator exhibited a high evaporation rate of 1.45 kg m−2 h−1 and conversion efficiency of 93.4 % in a 5 wt% NaCl solution under one sun illumination. Importantly, the evaporator presented superior salt-resistance and stability during long-term cycling test in high salinity brine. This work reveals the key role of superhydrophilicity and water transportation capability in high salt solution solar-driven desalination. Thus, this work provides an effective approach to address the issue of salt accumulation of the traditional evaporator, demonstrating its great potential for real-world solar-driven seawater desalination.