Reshapable MXene/Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline Plastic Hybrids with Patternable Surfaces for Highly Efficient Solar-Driven Water Purification

Although many solar-driven water evaporators are developed for solar steam generation, most solarthermal energy conversion materials cannot be used repeatedly for constructing solarthermal water evaporators with variable shapes and patternable surfaces. Herein, reshapable Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene/graphene oxide (GO)/polyaniline (PANI) (MGP) hybrids with variable shapes and patternable surfaces are fabricated by PANI-assisted assembly of GO and MXene for efficient solar-driven purifications of both seawater and wastewater. The variable shapes, patternable surfaces, and reusability of the plastic MGP hybrids are attributed to the strong interactions of PANI with both GO and MXene. Benefiting from the excellent solarthermal energy conversion of hydrophilic GO and MXene, the variable shapes and patternable surfaces of the MGP, and the reduced water vaporization enthalpy, the patternable MGP evaporators with flat and concave pyramid surfaces exhibit average water evaporation rates of as high as 2.89 and 3.30 kg m −2 h −1 under 1-sun irradiation, respectively. When the plastic MGP is molded to a flower-shaped evaporator, an outstanding evaporation rate of ≈3.94 kg m −2 h −1 with an exceptional evaporation efficiency of ≈135.6% is achieved under 1-sun irradiation. The reusable MGP evaporators are highly efficient in generating clean water from both seawater and wastewater with satisfactory ion rejection rates of nearly 100%.