Broadband absorption of electrospun scaffold-assisted self-assembled metal nanostructures for solar-powered water evaporation

Broadband absorbers are highly attractive due to its critical role in solar-powered water evaporation. Currently, various absorbing materials have been intensively studied. However, complicated fabrication process as well as the rigid and unportable structure still limit the application of these absorbing materials. Here we reported a novel plasmonic absorber with electrospun scaffold-assisted self-assembled metal nanostructures. The plasmonic absorber can be facilely fabricated by depositing gold on electrospun Polystyrene nanofiber scaffold. A high absorbance around 90% over a broadband spectrum from 400 nm to 1000 nm has been achieved. Our absorber exhibited remarkable evaporation rate of 1.852 kg/m²·h and high solar thermal conversion efficiency of 98.7% under one sun. We attributed the broadband absorption performance to the contributions of various gold nanostructures inside the PS scaffold. This work paves a novel way for the construction of high-performance, low-cost, and portable broadband plasmonic absorber, which exhibits a promising potential for many applications such as solar desalination and wastewater purification.