Catkins based flexible photothermal materials for solar driven interface evaporation collaborative power generation

Solar driven interface evaporation co-generation is expected to simultaneously solve the shortage of freshwater resources and the energy crisis. Herein, based on the natural tubular structure of biomass catkins, we prepared catkins/polyaniline/copper oxide composite fiber-based evaporator (CBP-CuO). CBP-CuO has excellent hydrophobicity, and its thermal conductivity is about 0.0421 W m−1 K−1. The evaporation rate under one solar irradiation is 1.72 kg m−2 h−1 and the evaporation efficiency of CBP-CuO reaches 105.3%. During the 30 days high concentration salt tolerance test, there is almost no salt crystallization on the evaporator surface. Using the principle of thermoelectric effect, the power generation capacity of CBP-CuO is approximately 57.459 mV under 0.9 kW m−2. CBP-CuO 33has the advantages of economy, environmental protection, and recycling, and has great application potential in actual seawater desalination and production.