Photothermally Enabled Black G-C3n4 Hydrogel with Integrated Solar-Driven Evaporation and Photo-Degradation for Efficient Water Purification

Utilizing solar-driven photocatalysis for the degradation of pollutants in seawater and facilitating interfacial evaporation presents a highly efficient and sustainable approach to addressing environmental pollution and freshwater scarcity. Herein, a black g-C3N4/chitosan (CN-B/CS) composite hydrogel system with synergistic photothermal-assisted photocatalytic antibiotic degradation and solar-interfacial evaporation was constructed for water purification. A series of characterization analyses demonstrated that the interfacial evaporation rate of CN-B/CS hydrogel could achieve up to 3.43 kg m(-2)h(-1) with 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, and 82.5 % degradation of tetracycline (TC) solution (100 mg/L) could be achieved within 4 h of solar irradiation with excellent stability. This dual-function system of photothermal-assisted photodegradation and solar interface evaporation realized by CN-B based photothermal materials is used to achieve water purification from complex seawater environment, which provides a feasible and effective way to explore and realize sustainable environmental protection in the future.