Multi-functional Reduced Graphene Oxide For Clean Water Generation

Generating clean water out of polluted water through various purification approaches is one promising way to address global water shortage.However,different purification techniques require different dispersion state of the treating agent to maximize their performances.Herein,we report the usage of Fe₃O₄ and reduced graphene oxide?MrGO?composites that have switchable dispersion modes for multifunctional clean water generation.Under homogenously dispersed nanofluid mode,the MrGO composites have large exposed surface areas thus can efficiently remove organic pollutants through physical adsorption.The uniform dispersion state also favors high contact efficiency facilitating decontamination of high concentration of organic compounds through solar-driven photocatalytic degradation by the MrGO composites.The excellent of magnetic response of MrGO composites not only allows for easy collection of treating agent from water but also enables assembly of MrGO at the air-water interface with external magnets.Under such interfacial assembled mode,clean water can be distilled out of the contaminated solution with high evaporation efficiency of 74.7%under simulated natural solar radiation.This work demonstrates dispersion state can be used as another important means to optimize multifunctional water purification performances.