Electrospun PANI/CB-PEN Nanofiber Composite Membranes for Efficient Solar Interfacial Evaporation

Solar-powered interfacial evaporation technology is seen as a potential way to alleviate the crisis of water scarcity through seawater desalination. The key to the success of this technology hinges upon the efficient conversion of solar energy into heat energy, which is intimately connected with the innovative development of composite photothermal membranes. In this study, polyaniline (PANI) with excellent light absorption and carbon black (CB) with good stability were added to the polymer material polyaryl ether nitrile (PEN), and the PANI/CB-PEN nanofiber membrane was prepared by electrospinning blending. Due to the good stability of PEN polymer, the solar evaporator has excellent salt resistance and stability. The results show that the fiber membrane has the best light absorption effect when the reaction time is 80 min and the CB content is 50.0%. The composite fiber membrane temperature can reach 68.6°C, the evaporation rate is 1.51 kg m −2 h −1 , while the evaporation rate is 1.38 kg m −2 h −1 in a 3.5% NaCl brine. The photothermal conversion efficiency was 94.17%. The PANI/CB-PEN nanofiber membrane-based interfacial evaporation device demonstrates sustained performance in repeated tests, showing promising potential for long-term, scalable solar-powered seawater desalination applications.