A Self‐floating Photothermal/Photocatalytic Evaporator for Simultaneous High‐Efficiency Evaporation and Purification of Volatile Organic Wastewater

Abstract

Abstract Solar‐driven photothermal interfacial evaporation technology is considered as a promising green approach to alleviating the global water resources crisis. However, efficient removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from both the bulk and the distilled water remains a significant bottleneck in this technology. Here, drawing inspiration from the natural structure and transpiration mechanism of trees, a self‐floating solar‐driven evaporation/photocatalytic integrated system (MCPWC) has been built utilizing a novel combined material consisting of Mn@g‐C 3 N 4 /PANI/wood‐derived carbon. The unique design of the evaporator resulted in an outstanding evaporation performance (2.99 kg m −2 h −1 ), along with an impressive photothermal conversion capability (97.06%). Notably, the modification of g‐C 3 N 4 by metal Mn promoted the separation‐migration of photo‐induced electron‐hole pairs, thereby enhancing the degradation of target pollutants. In addition, the introduction of polyaniline (PANI) not only serves as an efficient photothermal absorber, but also a co‐catalyst, forming a synergistic catalytic system with Mn@g‐C 3 N 4 to actualize the efficient degradation of VOCs (95.69% of bulk water and 99.04% of distilled water). Thus, this MCPWC evaporator successfully incorporated photocatalytic degradation into the solar evaporation system, providing revolutionary insights into the treatment of contaminated wastewater and paving a new path for the production of high‐quality freshwater.