Fabric-Based GO/Plasmonic Ag Coatings for Solar-Driven Water Evaporation and Thermoelectric Generation

Solar-driven photothermal conversion technology has received extensive attention in numerous fields, including seawater desalination, thermoelectric generation, and personal thermal management by virtue of its clean and sustainable advantages. A critical challenge in this field involves enhancing broadband light absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency by developing multifunctional composite structures. Herein, the multilayered graphene oxide (GO)/silver nanoparticle (Ag NP) composite coatings were fabricated on fabrics via a hierarchical self-assembly strategy, and the synergistic effect of the composite coatings significantly improved broadband solar absorption and efficient photothermal conversion. Under 1 kW·m–2 solar irradiation, the GO/Ag composite-coated fabric exhibited outstanding solar heating ability, achieving a high surface temperature of 80.5 °C, making it highly feasible as a wearable flexible heater for personal thermotherapy in a practical environment. Moreover, the composite fabric demonstrated exceptional solar-driven interfacial water evaporation performance, realizing a high water evaporation rate of 1.87 kg·m–2·h–1 and photothermal conversion efficiency of 87.5%. Additionally, combined with the thermoelectric module featuring a unique Seebeck effect, the excessive heat converted by the composite fabric was utilized for thermoelectric generation with a voltage of 55.8 mV and a power density of 15.0 μW·cm–2. The hierarchical GO/Ag composite-coated fabric provided an effective alternative strategy for solar-driven multifunctional thermal management applications.