Fabrication of a Highly Efficient Wood-Based Solar Interfacial Evaporator with Self-Desalting and Sterilization Performance.

Solar interfacial evaporation based on wood-derived materials has been considered a promising strategy for desalination and wastewater purification. Herein, we adopted delignified wood (DW) as the water transport substrate and lignosulfonate (LS)-modified narrow-band gap semiconductor nickel disulfide (NiS 2 ) as the light-absorbing agent (LS-NiS 2 ) to fabricate a high-efficiency evaporator (LS-NiS 2 @DW). On the one hand, the high absorbance (>95%) within a broad wavelength range and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of LS-NiS 2 endow efficient solar energy utilization. On the other hand, the hydrophilicity of DW facilitates water activation, which results in a lower evaporation enthalpy of LS-NiS 2 @DW (1274.4 kJ kg -1 ) than that of pure water. By combining LS-NiS 2 and DW, LS-NiS 2 @DW achieved an evaporation rate as high as 2.80 kg m -2 h -1 under one sun irradiation (1 kW m -2 ), and the evaporation efficiency reached 87.4%. Notably, LS-NiS 2 @DW exhibits a high evaporation rate (2.42-2.69 kg m -2 h -1 ) in simulated seawater for 24 h with no salt crystals formed on the surface. Moreover, LS-NiS 2 @DW shows high antibacterial activity with about 90% reduction in bacterial survival rate. This work could provide new perspectives for the design of a high-efficiency wood-based photothermal evaporator.