Bingyu Chen, Jiaxin Ren, Yuhang Song, Panpan He, Huiying Bai, Zifen Fan, Ran Niu*, Jiang Gong*. 

Upcycling poly(ethylene terephthalate) into porous carbon cuboid through MOF-derived carbonization strategy for interfacial solar-driven water-thermoelectricity co-generation. 

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2022) Accept (IF2022 = 9.224)

Converting plastics into functional carbonaceous materials for solar energy conversion and storage is emerged as a prospective solution to concurrently advance waste plastics upcycling and solar energy exploitation. However, synthesizing efficient carbon-based photothermal materials with well-defined shapes from waste plastics remains challenging. Herein, we propose metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived carbonization strategy to upcycle waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) into porous carbon cuboid (PCC) for interfacial solar-driven water-thermoelectricity co-generation. PCC with well-controlled shapes is readily prepared from carbonization of Ca-MOF cuboid derived from recycled PET. The size and porous structure of PCC are facilely regulated by changing the carbonization temperature (700?900 °C). Owing to abundant hierarchical micro-/meso-/macropores, unique cuboid morphology and many oxygen-containing groups of PCC, the PCC-based solar evaporator reveals high light absorptivity, reduced evaporation enthalpy, low heat conductivity, and superior photothermal conversion capability. Thanks to these advantages, it displays a ultra-high evaporation rate (2.49 kg m^-2 h^-1) under 1 Sun illumination, surpassing many recent evaporators. Besides, an outdoor solar-driven desalination apparatus achieves the freshwater generation amount per unit area of 7.1 kg. Significantly, the evaporator combined with a thermoelectric module generates a voltage of 201 mV at the illumination intensity of 1 kW m^-2, with a maximum power density of 0.8 W m^-2. This work not merely offers new opportunities for sustainable electricity and freshwater supply from renewable solar energy, but also contributes to upcycling waste plastics and achieving carbon neutrality.