A Flexible Polymer Nanofiber‐Gold Nanoparticle Composite Film for Solar‐Thermal Seawater Desalination
Shilin Mu, Jingjie Nan, Chenyu Shi, Xiaoduo Tang, Shuwei Liu, Hongxu Chen, Junhu Zhang, Bai Yang
Abstract
Abstract Interfacial solar‐thermal conversion has broad application prospects in solar driven steam generation, seawater desalination, sewage purification, and other fields. For a wide range of applications, high‐efficiency interfacial solar‐thermal conversion materials with the feature of being lightweight, flexible, and easy to scale up at the same time are significantly valued. Herein, a strategy for the preparation of solar‐thermal poly (4‐vinylpyridine) (P4VP) nanofiber‐gold nanoparticle (Au NP) composite film (PGCF) is reported. Combining with the flexible and lightweight P4VP nanofibers, these absorbed Au NPs enable better solar‐thermal conversion efficiency. Accordingly, the PGCF provides high‐performance interfacial solar‐driven steam generation, with 77% solar‐heat conversion efficiency under the power density of 3.4 kW m −2 , which shows stable output (3.4 kg m −2 h −1 ) in the application of solar‐driven seawater desalination. In addition, PGCF is light in weight, flexible, and suitable for scalable commercial production, enabling PGCF broad application prospects in the field of light‐to‐heat conversion.