Wood aerogel based on PDA-modified rGO mimicking mussel mucin for efficient interfacial evaporation

Abstract

Solar-driven interface evaporation technology with high thermal localization characteristics has been widely applied in seawater desalination. This paper reports on a highly efficient solar interface evaporator developed by spraying polydopamine (PDA)-modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO) onto the surface of wood aerogel (WA). Dopamine (DA) self-polymerizes in an alkaline medium to form PDA, which acts as a reducing agent and adhesive. Together with rGO as the photothermal layer, PDA and rGO combine through complex cross-linking adhesion to create a three-dimensional evaporation device with vertical channels. Additionally, based on the design of the interface “light trap” structure, the light capture mechanism of the pores was analyzed by simulating the path of incident light. Evaporation experiments were conducted to explore the impact of pore structures on evaporation performance. Under optimal structural parameters (D2H5), the evaporation rate and efficiency reached 1.9325 kg m−2 h−1 and 98 %, respectively. This work demonstrates that PDA-modified rGO wood aerogel (PGW) exhibits excellent evaporation performance and high scalability, which can help alleviate the global shortage of clean water resources.