Polypyrrole solar evaporator designed based on the interface evaporation principle and its application in sewage treatment

The governance of dye-containing and organic solvents emitted from the textile and chemical industries faces challenges. The device designed here has a "sandwich" structure, of which the lower superhydrophobic BiOCl fabric layer is to perform selective organic solvent penetration and dye photodegradation, meanwhile the surface exhibits a superhydrophobic property with a water contact angle of 159°. It should be noted that the BiOCl can be fabricated at room temperature and after 5 cycles of degradation the BiOCl loaded on the surface of fabric does not change. The middle layer is the filter paper, which is responsible for supplying a small amount of water and avoiding direct heating of the overall water. The upper layer is a polypyrrole layer, in which the light is converted into heat for local heating. The results show that the assembled device can be used to treat brine and sewage, achieving sewage treatment and clean water steam production. [Display omitted] •Polypyrrole growing on the surface of filter paper acts as a photothermal layer.•The floating layer achieves the outdoor photodegradation performance.•Clean solar steam generation and simultaneous removal of pollutants are achieved.