Co-Assembled WS<sub>2</sub> Nanosheets/Chitosan Aerogels with Oriented Micro-Channels for Efficient and Sustainable Solar Steam Generation
Yanhao Yuan, Xiangsheng Han, Hongzhen Cai, Keyan Yang, Shunyi Zhang, Xinyi Li, Meng Zhang
Abstract
Construction of anisotropic micro-channels in aerogel-based evaporators has been considered as a promising way to solve the salt accumulation and contaminant influence issues in the solar-driven interfacial evaporation process, however, which still suffer from drawbacks like costly fabrications. Herein, composite aerogels with anisotropic micro-channels were constructed through a simple co-assembly strategy between biomass chitosan and WS 2 nanosheets. Ascribing to the synergetic effects of photothermal conversion capabilities of WS 2 nanosheets and hydrophilia of chitosan, as well as the oriented microporous channels throughout the aerogels, the obtained aerogels (CS/WS 2 ) exhibited a max evaporation rate of ∼2.10 kg m –2 h –1 and a conversion efficiency of ∼87.9% under 1 sun illumination and presented continuous production of clean water even in acidic, alkaline, and organic dye solutions and high-salinity brines. Thus, this study paves a novel and simple strategy to build anisotropic micro-channels in aerogel evaporators for efficient and sustainable solar evaporation and desalination.