Sustainable bi-layer membrane for efficient interfacial solar steam generation: Silver‑carbon core-shell nanoparticles for enhanced light absorption and stability

Interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) has recently been a sustainable approach to seawater desalination and purification. Our work mainly aims to enhance light-to-heat conversion by designing a low-cost and green steam generation membrane derived from a bi-layer system based on silver‑carbon core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) and tissue waste. The presence of Ag NPs can create a strong arbitrary plasmonic coupling and wide absorption band for more sunlight capture. Furthermore, Ag nanospheres were coated with carbon shells as a protection cover against oxidation to ensure a highly stable nanocomposite and multi-scattering effect harvested much solar light. The localized light density on the photoabsorber membrane is improved by a collaboration of AgC core-shell to enhance the photothermal capability. The fabricated Ag-C@BC membrane achieved a wide broadband solar absorption and low thermal conductivity. The presence of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) played an essential role in the salt rejection process, which succored the generation of pure water even in very concentrated saline water. The fabricated membrane exhibited a high-water evaporating flux of 1.42 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ and further excellent efficiency of 97.4 % under one sun irradiation power. Also, the designed system presented a strong resistance against harsh conditions including hard metals, organic dyes, acidic and alkaline mediums that exhibited an outstanding efficiency of 96.8 % after long-cycle displaying.