The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

The importance and value of water have become more pronounced in recent years. This is due to the desertification and rapid expansion of dry areas from global warming and industrialization. As a result, regions with limited freshwater resources have relied on building desalination plants as a means of solving these problems. One of the freshwater production methods is the solar vapor generator system (SVG), which involves the processes of solar absorption, thermal conversion and local heating to induce seawater vaporization. In this work, we have successfully fabricated desalination membranes for SVG using PEC-T hydrogel materials prepared by combining cationic and anionic polymers. This material was blended with conducting polymer, PEDOT, to induce photothermal effects. The PEDOT:PSS-T composites were characterized by 1H NMR and UV/vis spectroscopy, SEM, DLS, UTM, and photothermal test.