Porous Hydrogel Photothermal Conversion Membrane to Facilitate Water Purification

Solar water purification technology is one of the mostpotent methodsto obtain freshwater due to its low cost and non-polluting characteristics.However, the purification efficiency is limited by the high ion concentration,organic pollution, and biological pollution during the actual waterpurification process. Here, we report a porous hydrogel membrane (Fe/TA-TPAM)for the purification of high ion concentration and contaminated water.The hydrogel membrane exhibits good light absorption and photothermalconversion ability, which shows high evaporation rates (1.4 kg m(-2) h(-1)) and high solar efficiencyfor seawater. Furthermore, with the introduction of tannic acid (TA)and Ti3C2 MXenes, the Fe/TA-TPAM hydrogel membraneexhibits satisfied purification properties for organic-contaminatedand biologically contaminated water. The excellent purification effectof Fe/TA-TPAM under light not only confirms the rationality of thehydrogel porous design and in situ generation of photosensitizer inimproving the photothermal performance but also provides a novel strategyfor designing advanced photothermal conversion membranes for waterpurification.