Biomass Carbon Materials for Efficient Solar Steam Generation Prepared from Carbonized Enteromorpha Prolifera

Solar steam generation is a promising technique using solar energy to obtain fresh water from seawater, industrial waste water, or sewage. In the current work, a green-tide waste, enteromorpha prolifera (EP), is used as raw material to prepare efficient absorbers and light-to-heat converters for solar steam generation. The EP waste is treated by a one-step carbonization process to produce carbonaceous EP foam that exhibits strong absorption in a wide spectrum from ultraviolet to near-infrared regions. The carbonaceous EP foam shows a solar steam generation efficiency of 89% under 5-sun irradiation. The hydrophilic surface characteristics, highly porous structure, and long-range continuous channels of the carbonaceous EP foam enable fast water transport and sufficient water supply for solar evaporation. Fresh water recovered from seawater and dye wastewater completely meets with the standards of drinking water. The strategy can not only reduce the cost of solar steam generation materials but also enable large-scale application.