Hanging Photothermal Fabric Based on Polyaniline/Carbon Nanotubes for Efficient Solar Water Evaporation

Solar-driven water evaporation is essential to provide sustainable and ecofriendly sources of fresh water. However, there are still great challenges in preparing materials with broadband light absorption for high photothermal efficiency as well as in designing devices with large evaporation areas and small heat dissipation areas to boost the water evaporation rate. We designed a hanging-mode solar evaporator based on the polyaniline/carbon nanotube (PANI/CNT) fabric, in which the photothermal fabric acts as the solar evaporator and the micropores on the cotton fabric act as the water transfer channels. The hanging mode provides efficient evaporation at both interfaces by greatly reducing the heat dissipation area. The hanging mode PANI/CNT fabric solar evaporator can achieve an evaporation rate of 2.81 kg·m^-2·h^-1 and a photothermal efficiency of 91.74% under a solar illumination of 1 kW·m^-2. This high-performance evaporator is designed by regulating the photothermal material and evaporation device, which provides a novel strategy for sustainable desalination.