High Performance Cellulose-Based Solar Evaporator with Pda/Pani Synergy for Sustainable Desalination

Abstract

Solar interfacial evaporation has emerged as a promising technology for addressing the global water crisis challenge. Within this field, fabric-based evaporators have garnered considerable research attention due to their scalability and cost-effective manufacturability. Strikingly, cellulose-based materials have become particularly attractive for evaporator design owing to their hydrophilicity and biodegradability, making them ideal candidates. In this study, we developed a high performance solar evaporator through a facile fabrication process by integrating polydopamine (PDA) and polyaniline (PANI) with a cellulose nonwoven fabric substrate. The synergistic interaction between these components endows the evaporator with exceptional photothermal conversion capabilities, demonstrating a remarkable average optical absorption efficiency of 92.44 %. The device achieves surface temperatures of 105.1 °C at dry state and 65.9 °C at wet state under 1 kW m⁻². It achieves a high evaporation rate of 1.488 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ and an energy conversion efficiency of 94.09 % under 1 kW m⁻². Field testing demonstrated practical freshwater production of 6.28 kg m⁻² over an 8-hour operational period. Furthermore, the material's inherent superior hydrophilicity effectively inhibits salt accumulation, ensuring stable long-term performance. This cellulose-based photothermal evaporation system represents a significant advancement in sustainable desalination technology for large-scale seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.

Keywords: Cellulose, fabric, PDA, PANI, solar evaporator, seawater desalination