Green synthesize of copper nanoparticles on the cotton fabric as a self-regenerating and high-efficient plasmonic solar evaporator

Abstract Harvesting solar energy, as a clean and abundant resource, in the photothermal process, is the winning point of solar steam generation (SSG) systems. Herein, copper plasmonic nanoparticles were synthesized through a green method via red sanders extraction on the cotton fabric as the reducing matrix. The prepared fabrics were analyzed using FESEM, EDS, XRD, PL, Raman, and contact angle. The treated fabric on the stitched PU foam with cotton yarns with bio-inspired jellyfish structure was used for heat localization and water transmission, simultaneously. The evaporation rate, enhancement, and conversion efficiency of the plasmonic SSG were 1.73 kg m−2 h−1, 179%, and ~ 98%, under one sun irradiation, respectively. The quality of the collected water was investigated via induced coupled plasma which presents the proper solar desalination (> 99.83% for filtration of Na+ ion). Regenerating features of the treated fabric along with the simple and cost-effective preparation method promises viable aspects of our system for large-scale applications.