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Research Article

Antibacterial evaporator based on reduced graphene oxide/polypyrrole aerogel for solar-driven desalination

Mengru Zhang1,§, Fan Xu1,§, Wenjie Liu1, Yaqi Hou1, Liyun Su2, Xin Zhang1, Ruihua Zhang1, Lijun Zhou1, Xiaomei Yan2, Miao Wang3( ), Xu Hou1,4,5 ( ), Yang Cao1,6( )
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Department of Chemical Biology, MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis & Instrumentation, Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
College of Materials, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Xiamen 361005, China
Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

§ Mengru Zhang and Fan Xu contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Highly efficient desalination performance through solar–thermal conversion has been achieved by our anti-bacterial reduced graphene oxide/polypyrrole (RGO/PPy) integrated aerogel and the microscopic mechanism has been studied in detail.

Abstract

Solar-driven water evaporation is a sustainable method to purify seawater. Nevertheless, traditional volumetric water-evaporation systems suffer from the poor sunlight absorption and inefficient light-to-thermal conversion. Also, their anti-bacterial and anti-fouling performances are crucial for the practical application. Herein, we introduce reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with broadband absorbance across the entire solar spectrum, and polypyrrole (PPy), an antibacterial polymer with efficient solar absorption and low thermal conductivity, to develop integrated RGO/PPy aerogel as both the solar absorber and evaporator for highly efficient solar-driven steam generation. As a result, the RGO/PPy aerogel shows strong absorption and good photothermal performance, leading to an evaporation rate of 1.44 kg·m−2·h−1 and high salt rejection (up to 99.99%) for real seawater, with photothermal conversion efficiency > 90% under one sun irradiation. The result is attributed to the localized heat at the air–water interface by the RGO/PPy and its porous nature with functional groups that facilitates the water evaporation. Moreover, the RGO/PPy demonstrates excellent durability and antibacterial efficiency close to 100% for 12 h, crucial characteristics for long-term application. Our well-designed RGO/PPy aerogel with efficient water desalination performance and antibacterial property provides a straightforward approach to improve the solar-driven evaporation performance by multifunctional materials integration, and offers a viable route towards practical seawater desalination.

Keywords

solar-driven steam generationinterfacial heatingantibacterial propertygraphene-based materialpolypyrrole

Electronic Supplementary Material

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 4,
April 2023
Pages 4219-4224
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-4041-4
Cite this article:
Zhang M, Xu F, Liu W, et al. Antibacterial evaporator based on reduced graphene oxide/polypyrrole aerogel for solar-driven desalination. Nano Research, 2023, 16(4): 4219-4224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4041-4
Topics:
Graphene oxide
Part of a topical collection:
Special Issue of Xiamen University Centennial CelebrationAccelerating clean energy innovations via nanotechnology toward achieving circular economy

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Received: 07 September 2021
Revised: 30 November 2021
Accepted: 05 December 2021
Published: 17 January 2022
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
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