Bifunctional La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ-CuO foam ceramic for solar thermal evaporation and water purification

Solar steam generation is an efficiently strategy to obtain fresh water utilizing solar energy. However, without effective decontamination treatment, the volatile organic compounds in the contaminated raw water would be concentrated during the evaporation process. Herein, a bifunctional composite based on La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ (LSC5) foam ceramic decorated with acicular-like copper oxide (CuO) was designed. The outstanding degradation capacity of LSC5-CuO could be attributed to the extraordinary conductive property of photothermal LSC5 ceramic which could separate the photo-induced electron and hole pairs. The bifunctional LSC5-CuO foam ceramic may provide a new perspective to solar pure water generation system.