Search

Solar water evaporation is an emerging technology for drinkable water generation, while it remains a challenge to develop materials and device for efficient water evaporation and collection. Herein, dual‐plasmonic Ti3C2Tx/CuSe two‐dimensional (2D)/2D hybrids are prepared for high‐efficiency solar water evaporation and a hydrophilic device is designed for efficient water collection. The Ti3C2Tx/CuSe hybrids, which monocrystalline CuSe ultrathin nanosheets are chemically bonded with Ti3C2Tx nanosheets, show efficient photothermal conversion owing to the plasmon‐coupling‐induced strong light absorption and fast charge transfer in the 2D/2D interface. By transferring the hybrids on a cotton piece, the Ti3C2Tx/CuSe membrane displays over 95% of solar light absorption, a stable evaporation rate of 1.893 kg m−2 h−1, and solar‐to‐vapor efficiency of 99.13% under one‐sun irradiation. The membrane can also treat water with more than 20 wt% salinity due to the rich microchannel for ion diffusion. Furthermore, a water evaporation device, which the cambered roof is painted with hydrophilic SiO2, is designed for efficient water collection. The treated roof can efficiently reduce the optical loss and transfer the vapor condensation, leading to a high average freshwater generation of 16.4 kg m−2 in a daily (10 h) natural light irradiation, much higher than other reported devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic hybrids are regarded as promising candidates for water purification due to their structure-dependent photocatalysis and photothermal performance. It remains a challenge to develop materials that possess these two characteristics for efficient water purification. Herein, plasmonic Ti 3 C 2 T x /Bi 2 S 3 two-dimensional (2D)/2D hybrids were prepared for efficient solar-driven water purification via the combination of photothermal conversion and photocatalysis. Benefitting from broad light absorption, large 2D/2D interfaces, and efficient charge transfer, the binary hybrids showed high-efficiency photothermal conversion and photothermal-assisted photocatalytic activity. By depositing these 2D/2D hybrids on a hydrophilic and porous cotton piece, the Ti 3 C 2 T x /Bi 2 S 3 membrane displayed a high water evaporation rate and solar-to-vapor efficiency under one-sun irradiation. The solar-driven evaporation of seawater, heavy metal ion solution, and dye solution jointly indicated that the plasmonic membrane shows great potential for drinkable water generation and industrial wastewater treatment. Most importantly, the synergistic effect of photothermal evaporation and photocatalysis of the Ti 3 C 2 T x /Bi 2 S 3 membrane on water purification was demonstrated. The polluted water can not only be treated by evaporation, but also be degraded via photocatalysis under solar light irradiation. This work provides new insight into designing functional materials for water purification based on the combination of photothermal conversion and photocatalysis.