Chitosan assisted MXene decoration onto polymer fabric for high efficiency solar driven interfacial evaporation of oil contaminated seawater

The solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) is now a promising way to solve the shortage of fresh water. However, high performance SDIE for the oil contaminated seawater remains challenging. Here, we propose a facile ``chitosan assisted MXene decoration" strategy to prepare a superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic Chitosan/MXene/fabric (CMF) for highly efficient SDIE. Benefiting from the superhydrophilicity and excellent photo-thermal conversion performance, the CMF is served as both the solar absorber and the water transportation path. Under the light illumination with one sun intensity (1 kW.m(-2)), a high evaporation rate of 1.50 kg.m(-2)h(-1) and efficiency of 88.05% are achieved. The strong interfacial interaction and outstanding salt rejection behavior of the CMF ensure the SDIE long-term stability and durability. In addition, the underwater superoleophobic CMF can effectively and quickly repel different oils and is hence suitable for high performance SDIE of the oil-in-water emulsion and the crude oil contaminated seawater. This work provides a rational design and optimization for the SDIE system, which holds great potential in practical desalination applications. (C) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.