Bioinspired Mossene Membrane Integrating Sulfhydryl-Modified MOFs for Efficient Solar-Driven Seawater Desalination

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Environmental Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Designing solar evaporators faces challenges in balancing salt rejection and evaporation efficiency.
• Bioinspired membrane design offers a promising strategy for enhanced solar-driven water evaporation and desalination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel bioinspired asymmetric photothermal membrane, Mossene, for efficient solar water evaporation and desalination.
• To emulate the water-regulation strategies of bryophytes for improved membrane functionality.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a dual-layer membrane: a hydrophilic substrate (polyamide-6/UiO-66) for water transport and a hydrophobic top layer (carbon nanotubes/PVDF) for light absorption.
• Mimicking bryophyte structures for water retention and chlorophyll-like light harvesting.
• Testing photothermal conversion and evaporation performance under simulated solar irradiation.

Main Results:

• The Mossene membrane exhibited rapid heating under irradiation (16 °C to 109.9 °C in 6 min).
• When floated on NaCl solution, the membrane reached 78.5 °C in 5 min, showing excellent photothermal conversion.
• The optimized membrane achieved a water evaporation rate of 1.55 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ and 97.5% energy conversion efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Mossene is a biomimetic photothermal membrane with hierarchical structure, selective wettability, and efficient energy utilization.
• This design demonstrates significant potential for next-generation solar evaporators in sustainable water purification.