Journal of Bionic Engineering (2022) 19:752–760  https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-021-00149-x 

Polymer Modifed Banana Pseudo Stem-based Interfacial Solar-driven Evaporation System 

Vivek Chandran1  · Sujith Lal1  · Sudip K. Batabyal1,2 

1 Department of Sciences, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641112, India
2 Amrita Centre for Industrial Research and Innovation(ACIRI), Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641112, India

Abstract  Interfacial solar-driven evaporation technique is an environmental friendly and cost-efective advanced approach for water purifcation using solar energy. Free energy sources are efectively utilized using the structural design of evaporators and functional materials. In this work, we have fabricated a solar-driven interfacial evaporation device with Banana Pseudo Stem (BPS) and a photothermal layer made up of PVA PDMS Carbon (PPC) is attached to it. High evaporation rate of 2.03 kg m?2 h?1 is achieved by the system under 1 sun illumination. Heat localization on interfacial surface, refectance of photothermal layer, presence of micro-fuidic channels in BPS were studied using IR imaging, UV-DRS and SEM characterization techniques, respectively. Efective localization of interfacial temperature around 53 °C and very low refectance of photothermal layer substantiates high photothermal conversion efciency of the device. The complete purifcation of water containing high concentration of Rhodamine-B dye using BPS is a novel and simple approach for water purifcation. This is an eco-friendly, cost-efcient novel approach in fabrication of interfacial solar-driven evaporation system with high evaporation rate for purifcation of water containing high concentration of organic dye. 

Keywords  Banana pseudo stem · Polymers · Interfacial evaporator · Biomaterial · Water purifcation · High efciency

Fabrication of PVA PDMS Carbon (PPC) coating for photothermal layer