Carbonized waste polyphenylene sulfide non-woven decorated wood evaporator for clean water production from solar photothermal desalination

Solar-driven water desalination is regarded as a promising and sustainable approach for clean water generation to mitigate the issue of freshwater shortage. However, most solar evaporators suffer poor water evaporation rates or depend on high-cost light absorbers and complex processes. Here, we present a bilayer wood-based solar evaporator decorated with carbonized waste polyphenylene sulfide non-woven for desalination to produce clean water. The sulfur-doped carbon was obtained from the waste polyphenylene sulfide non-woven after carbonization with more electrons and enhanced hydrophilic compared with pure carbon structure which is combined with natural wood with porous structure, exhibiting excellent photothermal water evaporation performance. The photothermal wood-based solar evaporator shows a strong broad-band light absorption of an average of 94 %. The sulfur-doped carbon decorated high 3 cm natural wood (CP wood) indicates a high evaporation rate of 2.32 kg m−2 h−1 and photothermal conversion efficiency of 132.49 % under 1 sun radiation. Furthermore, the reusability, salt rejection, and outdoor experiment were performed to prove the potential of the evaporator in practical desalination. This work indicates the great potential of sulfur-doped carbon for efficient solar-driven clean water production to address the issue of global freshwater shortage.