Synchronizing Efficient Purification of VOCs in Durable Solar Water Evaporation over a Highly Stable Cu/W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub>@Graphene Material.

Ren, Liteng; Yang, Xiaonan; Sun, Xin; Yuan, Yupeng · Nano Lett · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Solar-driven clean water production is challenged by VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which pose health risks in distilled water. Herein, we developed a Cu/W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub>@Graphene photothermal-photocatalytic material addressing VOCs contamination. Plasmonic coupling between Cu and W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub> enhances light absorption, and 1-2 layers of graphene encapsulation protects oxygen vacancies within W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub> while facilitating hot electron extraction, effectively mitigating their ultrafast relaxation. Density functional theory calculations revealed enhanced VOCs adsorption on graphene. These synergies address oxygen vacancy decay in W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub> and provide more active sites for gas-liquid-solid triphase photocatalytic reactions. Integrated with a three-dimensional floating evaporator substrate, the optimized Cu/W<sub>18</sub>O<sub>49</sub>@Graphene material achieved an effective water evaporation rate of 1.41 kg m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> (efficiency of 88.6%), exceptional stability (>120 h), and remarkable 99% phenol removal under 1 sun irradiation (1 kW m<sup>-2</sup>). This work provides a promising solution to mitigate VOCs contamination in solar-driven water evaporation.