Aerogel

Engineering

Ecology

Biology

Materials science

Cellulose

Fouling

Biochemistry

Environmental remediation

Chemical engineering

Geology

Solar energy

Groundwater remediation

Oceanography

Thermodynamics

Physics

Nanotechnology

Membrane

Desalination

Contamination

Photothermal therapy

Composite material

Evaporation

Superhydrophilicity

Chemistry

Wetting

Seawater

Solar desalination

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

A solar steam generation method has been widely investigated as a sustainable method to achieve seawater desalination and sewage treatment. However, oil pollutants are usually emitted in real seawater or wastewaters, which can cause serious fouling problems to disturb the solar evaporation performance. In this work, a mussel-inspired, low-cost, polydopamine-filled cellulose aerogel (PDA-CA) has been rationally designed and fabricated with both superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity. The resulting PDA-CA device could also achieve a high solar evaporation rate of 1.36 kg m–1 h–1 with an 86% solar energy utilize efficiency under 1 sun illumination. In addition, the PDA-CA not only exhibited promising antifouling capacity for long-term water evaporation but also engaged in the effective adsorption of organic dye contaminants. These promising features of PDA-CA may offer new opportunities for developing multifunctional photothermal devices for solar-driven water remediation.

A Mussel-Inspired Polydopamine-Filled Cellulose Aerogel for Solar-Enabled Water Remediation