Manganese dioxide/Biocarbon Composite Photothermal Material: Synthesis and Its Performance in Solar Interface Water Evaporation

doi:10.15541/jim20250365

Abstract

Abstract: Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation technology, as an important approach for efficiently and sustainably generating clean water, is one of the hot research topics in the fields of materials and environment. However, low-cost, high-efficiency photothermal materials are essential for the widespread application of this technology, which currently remains a key challenge. In this study, manganese dioxide (HMO) was uniformly grown onto biocarbon, forming a manganese dioxide/biocarbon composite with low crystallinity and rich defects, by using camellia-derived biocarbon (CC) as the support and structure-directing agent. The resulting HMO/CC exhibits a high solar absorption efficiency of 94.2% in the 250-2500 nm range, as well as superior photothermal conversion capability to single-component HMO. The HMO/CC-MCE photothermal membrane assembled from this composite and mixed cellulose ester (MCE) filter membrane displays excellent hydrophilicity and photothermal conversion capability, achieving an evaporation rate of 1.505 kg·m^-2·h^-1 and an evaporation efficiency of 92.5% under 1 kW·m^-2 solar irradiation, which is better than those of HMO (85.0%) and CC (82.6%), and 9.9 times that of pure water without membrane. A three-dimensional HMO/CC-PU evaporator was then fabricated by integrating HMO/CC with polyurethane (PU) sponge, which can achieve a surface temperature of 68.3 °C within 600 s and an enhanced evaporation rate of 2.274 kg·m^-2·h^-1. Additionally, the device maintained stable evaporation rate of 2.271 kg·m^-2·h^-1 after 15 cycles in a model seawater. In this study, the approach using biomass-derived carbon as a template to construct composites, provides valuable reference for the development of novel photothermal materials and their applications in desalination and wastewater treatment.

Key words: MnO₂/C, photothermal materials, solar-driven interface water evaporation, desalination

CLC Number:

TQ174

FAN Shengqiang, ZHOU Shuhao, QIAN Junchao, MA Ruguang, WU Zhengying. Manganese dioxide/Biocarbon Composite Photothermal Material: Synthesis and Its Performance in Solar Interface Water Evaporation[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, DOI: 10.15541/jim20250365.

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