Bifunctional plasmonic colloidosome/graphene oxide-based floating membranes for recyclable high-efficiency solar-driven clean water generation

Utilizing plasmonic nano-particles/structures for solar water evaporation has aroused increasing interest; however, large-scale methods are desired to boost the efficiency and improve the practicality of solar steam generation. We developed a membrane-supported floating solar steam generation system based on graphene oxide and a multiscale plasmonic nanostructure; the latter is a micrometer-sized colloidosome that was assembled from hollow and porous Ag/Au nanocubes. By taking advantage of multiscale plasmonic coupling of the particles, an extremely high solar thermal conversion efficiency up to 92% at 10 kW·m−2 (with a water evaporation rate reaching 12.96 kg·m−2·h−1) can be achieved. The TiO2 nanoparticle-modified floating system is also capable of high-efficiency dye degradation in organic-polluted water, rendering such a membrane system recyclable and scalable for practical and versatile solar-driven generation of clean water.