Solar-driven high-efficiency remediation of wastewater containing small dye molecules

Remediation of wastewater containing dye molecules is necessary to alleviate the significant threat that poses to human health and the environment. Current treatment technologies are seriously limited by their low efficiency for removing small dye molecules or/and inferior regenerability. Herein, we report a bio-inspired, solar-driven, regenerable separation device capable of separating small dye molecules from the wastewater with high efficiency. The device is composed of porous super-hydrophilic ceramic and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In comparison with previously reported systems, the resultant device not only achieved a highly promising separation efficiency of >99% for dye-containing wastewater, even for small dye molecules (<1.25 nm), but also demonstrated excellent separation stability and strong resistance to acid/alkali. Moreover, the device demonstrated impressive regenerability on simple calcination and re-coating of the CNT layer after it was blocked. This novel separation device shows potential for application in many fields, such as dye separation, wastewater purification and desalination.