Scalable Carbon Black‐Enabled Membranes for Sustainable Solar Membrane Desalination

Abstract

Solar energy is used worldwide for generating electricity or desalting seawater. Photothermal membrane distillation (PMD), an emerging thermal‐driven process for seawater desalination, combines interfacial heating with membrane distillation (MD) technology to address the energy consumption issues of conventional MD. However, it is still a great challenge to develop a cost‐effective and scalable membrane, which hampers the practical use of PMD. Herein, a dual‐layer carbon black (CB)/PVDF membrane is prepared via direct electrospraying on a commercial PVDF membrane. With the introduction of a functional layer, a photothermal effect is imparted to the bare membrane, thus significantly increasing the water production rate and solar utilization efficiency (SUE) during exposure to artificial sunlight (≈57% enhancement and 72% SUE under 1 sun). In addition to the outstanding photothermal properties, this functional layer also served as a passivation coating to synergistically reduce the crystallization rate and physical binding of inorganic salts on the modified membrane without adding hazardous chemicals or using laborious steps. This multifunctional coated membrane and fast‐growing solar desalination technology provides a promising solution to the water crisis, especially in off‐grid areas where energy and resources are both relatively insufficient.