Engineering Lateral Heterojunction of Selenium-Coated Tellurium Nanomaterials toward Highly Efficient Solar Desalination

Herein, a core-shell tellurium-selenium (Te-Se) nanomaterial with polymer-tailed and lateral heterojunction structures is developed as a photothermal absorber in a bionic solar-evaporation system. It is further revealed that the amorphous Se shell surrounds the crystalline Te core, which not only protects the Te phase from oxidation but also serves as a natural barrier to life entities. The core (Te)-shell (Se) configuration thus exhibits robust stability enhanced by 0.05 eV per Se atom and excellent biocompatibility. Furthermore, high energy efficiencies of 90.71 +/- 0.37% and 86.14 +/- 1.02% and evaporation rates of 12.88 +/- 0.052 and 1.323 +/- 0.015 kg m(-2) h(-1) are obtained under 10 and 1 sun for simulated seawater, respectively. Importantly, no salting out is observed in salt solutions, and the collected water under natural light irradiation possesses extremely low ion concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ relative to real seawater. Considering the tunable electronic structures, biocompatibilities, and modifiable broadband absorption of the solar spectrum of lateral heterojunction nanomaterials of Te-Se, the way is paved to engineering 2D semiconductor materials with supporting 3D porous hydrophilic materials for application in solar desalination, wastewater treatment, and biomedical ventures.