Reconfiguration and self-healing integrated Janus electrospinning nanofiber membranes for durable seawater desalination

Janus electrospinning nanofiber membranes have attracted extensive attention in the fields such as solar-driven interfacial desalination, liquid filtration, and waterproof and breathable fabrics. However, the Janus structures suffer from weak interfacial bonding and vulnerability to damage, making the durability and sustainability are highly sought after in real-word applications. Herein, we fabricate the simply reconfigurable and entirely self-healing Janus evaporator by electrospinning polypropylene glycol based polyurethane (PPG@PU) and polydimethylsiloxane based polyurethane-CNTs (PDMS@PU-CNTs) with different wettability, which are both designed based on dynamic Diels-Alder (DA) bond. The interface of the Janus membrane is stitched by the covalent bonds to directly improve the interface adhesion to 22 N.m(-1), constructing an integrated evaporator, and thereby achieving a stable desalination rate of 1.34 kg.m(-2).h(-1) under one sun. Reversible dissociation of DA networks allows the evaporators for self-healing and reconfiguration abilities, after which the photothermal performance is maintained. This is the first work for the crosslinked self-healing polymer to be directly electrospun, achieving the improved interfacial bond and reconfiguration of entire evaporators, which presented promising new design principles and materials for interfacial solar seawater desalination.

Automated summary

Janus electrospinning nanofiber membranes with improved durability and sustainability, as well as self-healing and reconfiguration abilities, have been successfully fabricated using dynamic Diels-Alder (DA) bond. This work presents promising new design principles and materials for interfacial solar seawater desalination.