Multifunctional photothermal fabrics with water repellent for efficient crude oil adsorption and seawater desalination

Abstract

Solar-driven crude oil adsorption and seawater desalination have become promising strategies for oil spill recovery and freshwater production, respectively. However, the water adsorbed into the solar absorber has negative impacts on both the oil adsorption capacity and water evaporation rate, so it is vital to restrain water from entering the solar absorber. Herein, a versatile photothermal fabric was prepared by modifying carbon cloth (CC) with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The introduction of PDMS improves the light absorption and the hydrophobicity, and prevents water from being adsorbed into the absorber. Taking advantage of the above properties, CC@PDMS exhibits an outstanding crude oil adsorption capacity of 21.13 g g−1 and a remarkable evaporation rate of 1.81 kg m−2 h−1. This work provides a facile strategy for solving the common issue of solar-driven crude oil adsorption and solar steam generation.