Enhanced Solar Water Desalination by CuCo_(2)S_(4)-decorated Carbon Foam Derived from Waste Plastics

Interfacial solar desalination is an emerging technology for freshwater production,but the finding of novel solar evaporators is still challenging.In the present research,graphitic carbon foam(CF)was synthesized from the upcycling of waste plastic polyethylene terephthalate(PET)waste bottles functionalized with carrollite CuCo_(2)S_(4) as a photothermal layer.Analytical characterization[X-ray diffraction(XRD),Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy(SEM-EDS)]confirms the functionalization of carrollite CuCo_(2)S_(4) on graphitic carbon foam.The UV-Vis spectroscopy analysis showed an enhanced optical absorption in the UV-Vis-near IR region(>96%)for functionalized CuCo_(2)S_(4)-CF foam compared to carbon foam(67%).The interfacial solar desalination experiment presented a significantly enhanced evaporation rate of 2.4 kg·m^(−2)·h^(−1) for CuCo_(2)S_(4)-CF compared to that of CF(1.60 kg·m^(−2)·h^(−1))and that of CuCo_(2)S_(4)(1.60 kg·m^(−2)·h^(−1)).The obtained results proved that the newly synthesized CuCo_(2)S_(4)-CF from the upcycled plastic into new material for the photothermal desalination process can enhance the practice of a circular economy to produce fresh water.

Green and low temperature synthesis of nanocrystalline transition metal ferrites by simple wet chemistry routes

Crystalline and nanostructured cobalt （CoFe2O4）, nickel （NiFe2O4）, zinc （ZnFe2O4） and manganese （MnFe2O4） spinel ferrites are synthesized with high yields, crystallinity and purity through an easy, quick, reproducible and low-temperature hydrothermal assisted route starting from an aqueous suspension of copredpitated metal oxalates. The use of water as a reaction medium is a further advantage of the chosen protocol. Additionally, the zinc spinel is also prepared through an alternative route combining copredpitation of oxalates from an aqueous solution with thermal decomposition under reflux conditions. The nanocrystalline powders are obtained as a pure crystalline phase already at the extremely low tem- perature of 75 ℃ and no further thermal treatment is needed. The structure and microstructure of the prepared materials is investigated by means of X-ray powder diffraction （XRPD）, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy （ICP-AES） analyses are used to gain information about the surface and bulk composition of the samples, respectively, confirming the expected stoichiometry. To investigate the effect of the synthesis protocol on the morphology of the obtained ferrites, transmission electron microscopy （TEM） observations are performed on selected samples. The magnetic properties of the cobalt and manganese spinels are also investigated using a superconducting quantum device magnetometer （SQUID） revealing hard and soft ferrimagnetic behavior, respectively.