# Preparation of Fe/PANI/GF Composite and Study on Its Interfacial Evaporation Performance

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new composite material that efficiently converts sunlight into heat, significantly improving water evaporation for addressing freshwater shortages.

## Contribution

The novel Fe/PANI/GF composite demonstrates high solar absorption and evaporation efficiency due to synergistic effects of PANI and Fe coordination.

## Key findings

- Fe/PANI/GF achieves a solar absorption rate of 95% across 300–2000 nm wavelength range.
- The composite reaches an evaporation rate of 2.05 kg m−2 h−1 with 70.3% interfacial evaporation efficiency under 1 kW m−2 illumination.

## Abstract

Addressing the global shortage of freshwater resources necessitates the development of efficient and economical photothermal evaporation materials. Herein, an Fe/polyaniline/graphite felt (Fe/PANI/GF) composite was fabricated by combining electrochemical deposition and impregnation. The structural characteristics, photothermal conversion efficiency, and interfacial evaporation performance of the composite were systematically investigated. Results demonstrate that Fe/PANI/GF exhibits a remarkably high solar absorption rate of 95% across the 300–2000 nm wavelength range. Under 1 kW m−2 illumination, the surface temperature of Fe/PANI/GF rapidly increased from ambient temperature to 60.3 °C within 5 min. The composite achieved an evaporation rate of 2.05 kg m−2 h−1, corresponding to an interfacial evaporation efficiency of 70.3%. This exceptional performance is attributed to the synergistic effect between the broad-spectrum light absorption of PANI and the enhanced light absorption induced by Fe coordination, which collectively promote the photothermal conversion process. This study provides valuable insights for the development of high-performance solar interfacial evaporation materials.