Copper oxide nanorods based nanofibers membrane for solar-driven interfacial evaporation

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation system has attracted intensive attention owing to its great potential in harnessing renewable solar energy to purify water. To further enhance the solar-driven interfacial evaporation system performance, solar absorber structure with high light-thermal energy conversion efficiency is especially critical. In this work, polyvinyl pyrrolidone/poly(vinylidene fluoride co hexa fluoropropylene)/CuO-nanorods (PVP/PVDF-HFP/CuO-nanorods) membrane was prepared sequentially by electrospinning, heating and hydrothermal processes. The flexible electrospun membrane was used as the photothermal layer in the solar-driven interfacial evaporation system. The evenly distributed CuO nanorods function as solar energy absorbers. The polystyrene foam was used as an insulating layer, and filter paper was inserted in the middle of the polystyrene foam to transport water to the photothermal layer. The designed evaporator was used for the solar evaporation using pure water. As a result, the evaporation rate was 1.11 kg/m2h and the light-thermal energy conversion rate was 75.36%. The outcome of this work provides the potential of solar-driven interfacial evaporation system for water desalination and wastewater purification.