Speaker
Description
ABSTRACT
Recent progress in the design of porous active photothermal materials with salt-resistant properties for interfacial solar-driven steam generation has garnered significant attention. These novel materials have shown significant potential in the development of next-generation solar evaporation systems with a wide range of water purification via the desalination process. In this study, N-doped graphene oxide (NGO) was integrated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and spirulina microalgae to develop a new class of graphene-biomass-based photothermal materials with excellent solar steam generation behavior and enhanced salt-resistant and thermal conversion efficiency. The fabricated NGO-CNTs@Algae layer evaporator was prepared using NGO-CNTs@Algae material and air-layered paper (ALP) for highly efficient solar steam generation by simple dip-coating processes and air drying. The NGO-CNTs@Algae evaporator exhibited excellent light absorption, good hydrophilicity for water supply, and abundant micro-pores for vapor escape, therefore achieving a ~2.46 kgm⁻²h⁻¹ seawater evaporation rate and 78.6% solar-thermal conversion efficiency under the light density of 1 kW m⁻². This work demonstrates that NGO-CNTs@Algae could serve as a potential material for practical interfacial desalination of seawater, contributing to sustainable solutions for the water shortage issue.
Keywords
N-doped graphene oxide, microalgae, NGO-CNT@Algae nanohybrid, steam generation, seawater desalination, photothermal conversion