Recyclable CNT-coupled cotton fabrics for low-cost and efficient desalination of seawater under sunlight

Abstract Photothermal membranes have shown tremendous potential for solar-driven seawater desalination, but their practical applications are hindered by the relatively high cost and solid salt separation. To overcome these limitations, we have developed low-cost and washable photothermal fabrics by dyeing traditional cotton fabrics with carbon nanotube (CNT)-based ink. CNT dyed cotton (cotton-CNT) fabrics exhibit strong optical absorption in 250–2500 nm with a total solar absorption efficiency of 95.7%. Using a polystyrene (PS) foam as the thermal insulator, cotton-CNT fabrics exhibit a high seawater evaporation rate of 1.59 Kg m−2 h−1 under simulated sunlight (1.0 KW m−2). More importantly, the fabric can be cleaned and recycled by removing the salts formed after evaporation, through a simple hand-washing process. These cotton-CNT fabrics may provide a new platform for low-cost, high-efficient and large-area seawater desalination under sunlight irradiation.