Lignin has been considered to be an ideal carrier for the construction of lignin-based antibacterial materials by its biocompatibility and environmentally benign feature. Herein, lignosulfonate (LS) was utilized as a growth template and a stabilizing agent to synthesize lignin-copper sulfide (LS-CuS) nanocomposites. Interestingly, the as-prepared LS-CuS nanocomposites show enhanced photothermal performance and peroxidase-like activity with nearinfrared (NIR) light activation, which benefits highly efficient bacteria-killing via synergistic photothermal−catalytic effects. The bactericidal tests indicated that LS-CuS nanocomposites (100 μg/mL) cause 5.9-log 10 and 5.4-log 10 CFU/mL reductions against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus under NIR light irradiation (808 nm, 1.8 W/cm 2 ) for only 5 min in the presence of H 2 O 2 . Moreover, LS-CuS nanocomposites can be blended with waterborne polyurethane (WPU) to obtain hybrid films, which also achieves a bactericidal efficacy of more than 90% in 5 min. Considering the low cost, easy preparation, and environmental friendliness of LS-CuS nanocomposites, this study may provide new insights into the design of lignin-based inorganic nanocomposites with high bacteria-killing efficiency in a sustainable manner.

Solar interfacial evaporation based on wood-derived materials has been considered a promising strategy for desalination and wastewater purification. Herein, we adopted delignified wood (DW) as the water transport substrate and lignosulfonate (LS)-modified narrow-band gap semiconductor nickel disulfide (NiS2) as the light-absorbing agent (LS-NiS2) to fabricate a high-efficiency evaporator (LS-NiS2@DW). On the one hand, the high absorbance (>95%) within a broad wavelength range and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of LS-NiS2 endow efficient solar energy utilization. On the other hand, the hydrophilicity of DW facilitates water activation, which results in a lower evaporation enthalpy of LS-NiS2@DW (1274.4 kJ kg–1) than that of pure water. By combining LS-NiS2 and DW, LS-NiS2@DW achieved an evaporation rate as high as 2.80 kg m–2 h–1 under one sun irradiation (1 kW m–2), and the evaporation efficiency reached 87.4%. Notably, LS-NiS2@DW exhibits a high evaporation rate (2.42–2.69 kg m–2 h–1) in simulated seawater for 24 h with no salt crystals formed on the surface. Moreover, LS-NiS2@DW shows high antibacterial activity with about 90% reduction in bacterial survival rate. This work could provide new perspectives for the design of a high-efficiency wood-based photothermal evaporator.

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