Omnidirectionally irradiated three-dimensional molybdenum disulfide decorated hydrothermal pinecone evaporator for solar-thermal evaporation and photocatalytic degradation of wastewaters

Jing Wu; Jin Qu; Guang Yin; Tingting Zhang; Hao-Yu Zhao; Fan-Zhen Jiao; Ji Liu; Xiaofeng Li; Zhong-Zhen Yu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.095

Omnidirectionally irradiated three-dimensional molybdenum disulfide decorated hydrothermal pinecone evaporator for solar-thermal evaporation and photocatalytic degradation of wastewaters

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 May:637:477-488. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.095. Epub 2023 Jan 24.

Authors

Jing Wu¹, Jin Qu², Guang Yin³, Tingting Zhang³, Hao-Yu Zhao⁴, Fan-Zhen Jiao³, Ji Liu⁵, Xiaofeng Li⁶, Zhong-Zhen Yu⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: qujin@mail.buct.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
⁵ School of Chemistry, CRANN and AMBER, Trinity College Dublin, D2 Dublin, Ireland.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: xfli@mail.buct.edu.cn.
⁷ Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: yuzz@mail.buct.edu.cn.

PMID: 36716671
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.095

Abstract

Although most solar steam generation devices are effective in desalinating seawater and purifying wastewaters with heavy metal ions, they are ineffective in degrading organic pollutants from wastewaters. Herein, we design novel solar-driven water purification devices by decoration of three-dimensional pinecones with MoS₂ nanoflowers via a one-step hydrothermal synthesis for generating clean water. The vertically arrayed channels in the central rachis and the unique helically arranged scales of the hydrothermal pinecone can not only transfer bulk water upward to the evaporation surface, but also absorb more solar light from different incident angles for solar-thermal evaporation and photodegradation of wastewaters under omnidirectional irradiations. The decorated MoS₂ nanoflowers can not only enhance the solar-thermal energy conversion efficiency, but also decompose organic pollutants in the bulk water by their photocatalytic degradation effects. The resultant hydrothermal pinecone with in situ decorated MoS₂ (HPM) evaporator exhibits a high evaporation rate of 1.85 kg m^-2 h^-1 under 1-sun irradiation with a high energy efficiency of 96 %. During the solar-driven water purification processes, the powdery HPM can also photodegrade organic pollutants of methylene blue and rhodamine B with high removal efficiencies of 96 % and 95 %, respectively. For practical demonstration, by floating in the methylene blue solution under 1-sun irradiation, the bulky HPM can generate clean water by simultaneous solar-thermal evaporation and photocatalytic degradation. The integration of solar steam generation and photocatalytic degradation mechanisms makes the HPM evaporator highly promising for practical high-yield purification of wastewaters.

Keywords: Molybdenum disulfide; Photocatalytic degradation; Pinecone; Solar-driven water evaporation; Solar-thermal energy conversion.