Self-Assembled Supercrystals Enhance the Photothermal Conversion for Solar Evaporation and Water Purification

Photothermal materials can convert renewable solar energy into thermal energy and have great potential for solar water evaporation. Copper sulfide (Cu2-xS) is an easily available and inexpensive plasmonic material with a high photothermal conversion efficiency and can be applied to solar evaporation and water purification. Monodispersed Cu7S4 nanoparticles (NPs) and supercrystalline self-assembled superparticles are obtained via wet chemical synthesis and micelle self-assembly. The photothermal properties of the superstructures are investigated using the finite difference time domain method and laser radiation photothermography. The results show that the electromagnetic field intensity and photothermal efficiency of the self-assembly are significantly higher than those of isolated NPs, which is due to the plasmonic coupling of the NPs. The evaporation efficiency of the superstructure is significantly higher than that of isolated NPs, the metal salt ion and total organic carbon concentrations in the waterbody significantly decrease after evaporation, and the water polluted by high salt and organic dye concentrations is purified. The water quality significantly improves after the lake water from Fuxian Lake in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau of China is used for solar evaporation. The color changes from pale yellow to colorless and the ion and total organic carbon contents significantly decrease.