Highly efficient solar steam generation of polyamide 6 membrane modified with graphene oxide and Au nanoparticles

Solar steam generation (SSG) system greatly improves the efficiency of water evaporation through heat localization, which has broad application prospects at seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. In this paper, polyamide 6-graphene oxide (PA6-GO) membrane was fabricated by nonsolvent-induced phase separation of a solution with GO-modified PA6 in formic acid. Furthermore, the PA6-GO membrane was modified by vacuum filtration of self-assembly gold nanoparticles on its surface for solar stem generation. The composite membrane obtained a light absorption rate of nearly 99.8%. Under the irradiation of 1 kW m −2 , the evaporation rate of 1.1 kg m −2  h −1 was obtained and the evaporation efficiency also reached to 75.6%. The evaporation system has the characteristics of low cost, high stability, strong acid, and alkali corrosion resistance, suggesting great potentials in seawater desalination and sewage treatment. Graphical abstract