A solar-driven interfacial evaporator for seawater desalination based on mussel-inspired superhydrophobic composite coating

Superhydrophobic solar-driven interfacial evaporator is emerging as an energy-efficient technology for seawater desalination, which can be easily fabricated using robust photothermal superhydrophobic coating and substrate. The bifunctional coating is of great importance in providing stable and highly photothermal and superhydrophobic performance for a solar-driven interfacial evaporator. In this work, a mussel-inspired PANI@PDA@CNT/EP/FAS-17 composite was created to fabricate the bifunctional coating on the melamine sponge substrate for seawater desalination. The solar-vapor conversion efficiency of the resulting PANI@PDA@CNT/EP/ FAS-17 solar-driven interfacial evaporator is 81.67 % and the evaporation rate is 1.3 kg center dot m- 2 h-1 under 1 Sun. Furthermore, the solar-vapor conversion efficiency and the evaporation rate are stable in a simulated seawater environment with a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The resulting superhydrophobic solar-driven interfacial evaporator is expected to have a wide application prospect in seawater desalination.

Automated summary

Superhydrophobic solar-driven interfacial evaporator is an energy-efficient technology for seawater desalination, which is easily fabricated using robust photothermal superhydrophobic coating and substrate. The created bifunctional coating on the melamine sponge substrate shows stable and highly efficient photothermal and superhydrophobic performance for seawater desalination. This superhydrophobic solar-driven interfacial evaporator is expected to have wide applications in seawater desalination.