Marine biomass metal-organic framework hybrid evaporators for efficient solar water purification

Developing affordable and eco-friendly photothermal evaporators is crucial to facilitate the application of interfacial solar evaporation technology in seawater desalination. Herein a versatile solar evaporator was designed and fabricated by confining black melanin nanoparticles (MN) obtained from Lophius litulon skin into a MIL-53(Fe) framework (MNM). The obtained evaporator showed a high evaporation rate of 1.34 kg·m−2·h−1 and corresponding energy efficiency of 90.6% under 1.0 sun illumination, as well as long-term salt-rejection properties (continuous outdoor evaporation of 10 wt% brine for 15 days). The estimated materials costs (1 m2) was less than USD 6.5 and the clean water yield meets the daily drinking water requirements for four adults. In addition, the photothermal evaporator showed excellent antibacterial property, high biocompatibility (90% cell survival) and recyclability. This study provides a new path for large-scale utilization of marine biomass materials in designing low-cost, scalable, and recyclable interfacial solar evaporation devices to produce drinkable water.