The efficient photothermal performance of organic polymeric material poly3-hexylthiophene for solar driven water evaporation and thermoelectric power generation

Abstract

Photothermal materials for solar evaporators need to have broad light absorption ability and be able to convert into heat efficiently. At present, organic photothermal materials mainly have the problems of narrow absorption spectrum range and low photothermal conversion efficiency. In recent years, the development of photovoltaic materials has attracted the attention of researchers. However, the application of photovoltaic materials to the field of solar driven water evaporation is still rare. Poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, is a typical p-type conjugated polymer that can achieve high power conversion efficiency. P3HT powder has a solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 11.26%. Its absorption range at 300–900 nm provides effective utilization of sunlight and has the potential as an excellent photothermal conversion material. We loaded P3HT into non-woven fabric to obtain an integrated device for simultaneous water evaporation and thermoelectric power generation, with evaporation rate of 1.04 kg m−2 h−1 and output voltage of 58 mV under 1 kW m−2 simulated solar irradiation. This study enriches the application of traditional photovoltaic materials in the field of solar-heat technique and provides guidance in the construction of solar evaporation devices for water-electricity co-generation.