Architecting Hybrid Donor-Acceptor Dendritic Nanosheets Based on Polyoxometalate and Porphyrin for High-Yield Solar Water Purification

Harvesting solar energy for saline and polluted water purification is a sustainable and affordable solution to alleviate the stress on water shortages. However, the water evaporation rate relies on high optical intensity and suffers from inadequate energy conversion. Herein, a novel hybrid donor-acceptor dendritic nanosheets (denoted as DNS) composed of phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) clusters and porphyrin ligands is reported. Experimental results and molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the PMA and porphyrin are oriented attachment and assembled into a stable nanostructure. Benefiting from the advantages of the unique structure and photosensitive components, the DNS exhibits high evaporation rate of 2.23 kg m(-2) h(-1) with 90.9% energy efficiency under 1 sun irradiation. It is noteworthy that the evaporation performance is upgraded by innovative technology, and even under 0.5 sun that is close to the natural sunlight intensity, the evaporation rate reaches up to 1.31 kg m(-2) h(-1), which exceeds that of the vast majority of the reported evaporators. Furthermore, this evaporator also displays excellent seawater desalination and wastewater decontamination based on photo-thermal distillation, highlighting its potential application toward water purification.

Automated summary

A novel hybrid donor-acceptor dendritic nanosheets (DNS) has been developed for high-efficiency water purification, showing a remarkable evaporation rate and energy efficiency under sunlight irradiation.