Sustainable Cellulose Aerogel from Waste Cotton Fabric for High-Performance Solar Steam Generation

The textile industry has been considered as one of the polluting industries, producing a large amount of textile waste and CO2 emissions each year. Recycling of waste fabric has attracted more research interest in recent years. Herein, renewable polydopamine (PDA)-functionalized cellulose aerogels (CAs) have been designed by a feasible and green way for clean water generation. With the polymerization of PDA on the surface, which possesses excellent photothermal conversion performance and water purification ability, the resulting CA could achieve a high light absorption of 96.5% with the evaporation rate of 2.74 kg m–2 h–1 under 1 sun. Meanwhile, the solar steam generator with the increasing height can absorb energy from adjacent ambient air to strengthen the vapor generation. The features of renewable CAs can achieve efficient water evaporation, which combined with their low material cost and recycling, offer promise in reducing not only energy consumption but also the environmental footprint of cotton textiles.