Solar steam generation
and photocatalytic degradation have been
regarded as the most promising techniques to address clean water scarcity
issues. Although enormous efforts have been devoted to exploring high-efficiency
clean water generation, many challenges still remain in terms of single
decontamination function, relatively low efficiency, and inability
to practical application. Herein, we first report the bioinspired
fabrication of black titania (BT) nanocomposites with moth-eye-like
nanostructures on carbon cloth for solar-driven clean water generation
through solar steam generation and photocatalytic degradation. The
moth-eye-like BT nanoarrays can largely prolong the effective propagation
path of absorbing light and enhance the scattering of light, thereby
exhibiting outstanding light absorption of 96% in the full spectrum.
Such hierarchical-nanostructured BT nanocomposites not only impressively
achieve solar steam efficiency of 94% under a simulated light of 1
kW m–2 but also show the prominent performance of
desalination and steam generation in real life condition. In addition,
96% of rhodamine B is degraded using BT nanocomposites as a photocatalyst
in 100 min. The moth-eye-like bioinspired designing concept and bifunctional
applications in this study may open up a new strategy for maximizing
solar energy utilization and clean water generation.
Conventional desalination technologies play a central role in alleviating the crisis of increasing freshwater shortages, however, impeded by high cost, intensive energy consumption and environmental pollution. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE)...
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