Growth of CuS nanowire on copper mesh for efficient solar-driven water evaporation and wastewater purification

[Display omitted] •CuS/copper mesh (CM) was developed to apply in solar interfacial steam generation.•CuS/CM rapidly evaporated and collected water under solar irradiation (4.0523 kg·m-2h−1 @ 3 sun).•CuS/CM exhibited photocatalytic activity during methylene blue degradation (73%).•CuS can be used for wastewater treatment owing to its high photocatalytic activity. This study proposed a multifunctional material, CuS nanowire, grown on a copper mesh (CM), for application in wastewater purification. CuS/CM could rapidly evaporate and collect water under solar irradiation. CuS nanowires were successfully synthesized on CM through a liquid–solid reaction at room temperature, followed by sulfidation. Water evaporation experiments conducted using meshes suspended in water to determine the most efficient configuration revealed that CuS/CM was the most efficient material. Owing to the localized surface plasmon resonance induced by oxygen vacancies, CuS/CM exhibited a high water evaporation rate (4.0523 kg·m-2h−1 @ 3 sun) and energy conversion efficiency (96.1 %) in Structure A with a vertical length of 4 cm under 3 sun irradiation. To evaluate its effectiveness in wastewater treatment, CuS/CM was used to evaporate and collect methylene blue (MB)-contaminated water at rates of 1.5747 and 0.8624 kg·m-2h−1. Furthermore, CuS/CM demonstrated photocatalytic activity during MB degradation. Under xenon lamp illumination for 6 h, CuS/CM exhibited a 73 % degradation efficiency for MB, indicating its photocatalytic properties. CuS/CM effectively purify dyeing wastewater due to their fast water evaporation rate and the photocatalytic capability of CuS, making them promising for wastewater treatment and desalination applications.