One-Step Electrochemically Prepared Bionic Hierarchical Nickel Black@Graphene Composite Membrane for Desalination by Solar–Thermal Energy Conversion

Abstract

Ingenious microstructure construction and appropriate composition selection are effective strategies for achieving enhanced performance of photothermal materials. Herein, a broccoli-like hierarchical nickel black@graphene (Ni@Gr) membrane for solar-driven desalination was prepared by a one-step electrochemical method, which was carried out simultaneously with the electrochemical exfoliation of graphene and the co-deposition of Ni@Gr material. The bionic hierarchical structure and the chemical composition of the Ni@Gr membrane increased the sunlight absorption (90.36%) by the light-trapping effect and the introduction of graphene. The Ni@Gr membrane achieved high evaporation rates of 2.05 and 1.16 kg m −2 h −1 under simulated (1 sun) and outdoor sunlight conditions, respectively. The superhydrophilicity and the hierarchical structure of the Ni@ Gr membrane jointly reduced the evaporation enthalpy (1343.6 kJ/kg), which was beneficial to break the theoretical limit of the evaporation rate (1.47 kg m −2 h −1 ). This work encourages the application of bionic metal−carbon composite photothermal materials in solar water evaporation.