Polydopamine-Functionalized Bamboo for High-Efficiency Solar Sea-Water Desalination and Heavy Metal Wastewater Treatment

Solar seawater evaporation is an emerging solution to combat the global water shortage problem. Bamboo is valued due to its porosity, thermal insulation, and hydrophilic properties in areas facing the problem of seawater evaporation. However, the surface of pure bamboo is not strong enough to absorb sunlight, resulting in low solar water evaporation efficiency. Hence, we used an uncomplicated surface self-assembly method to load pollution-free polydopamine on pure bamboos by hydrogen bonding. The decoration of black polydopamine enhances the absorption of sunlight throughout the device. Considering the advantages of bamboo as a substrate material and polydopamine as a photothermal conversion layer, the PDA-bamboo proves effective in solar seawater evaporation. The evaporation device can achieve an evaporation rate of 1.095 kg m–2 h–1 and evaporation efficiency of 73.64% under one solar illumination. The PDA-bamboo also finds wide application in water purification. Furthermore, PDA-bamboo is highly reusable and can maintain steady after 21 times of repeated use. The results suggested that the PDA-bamboo evaporation device can play a significant role in solving the problem of the scarcity of earth’s water.

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