Sugarcane-Based Photothermal Materials for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

Solar steam generation is a promising strategy for harvesting solar energy for diverse applications such as desalination and wastewater treatment. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of polypyrrole modified sugarcane (PPy-SC) as efficient photothermal material for solar steam generation. The PPy-SC possesses various close-packed open channels in horizontal plane and super hydrophilic wettability which is beneficial for rapid transportation of water molecules. In combination with its abundant porosity (47%), low apparent density (80 mg cm(-3)), low thermal conductivity (0.042 W m(-1) K-1), and broad light absorption (90%). The prepared PPy-SC exhibits a high evaporation rate of 1.59 kg m(-2) h(-1) and conversion efficiency of 90.6%, under 1 sun irradiation. In addition, the PPy-SC also shows good performance in desalination. With the merits of low-cost, eco-friendly, simple fabrication process, high solar energy conversion efficiency, the PPy-SC shows great potential as an efficient photothermal material for solar steam generation.