Solar-powered platform achieves high-efficiency seawater desalination and antibiotic degradation
A multifunctional solar-driven platform offers a sustainable solution for clean water production and pollution remediation in coastal and resource-limited regions
image: The PCCO-based SPSP system integrates photothermal evaporation and photocatalytic degradation, thus providing safe, clean water from seawater while degrading antibiotics into harmless by-products.
Credit: Nano Research, Tsinghua University Press
Global freshwater scarcity and antibiotic pollution are escalating concerns, particularly in coastal regions where intensive aquaculture practices, involving extensive usage of antibiotics like tetracycline (TC), have led to severe marine contamination. This dual threat to ecosystems and public health necessitates innovative solutions. Traditional water treatment technologies, including reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash distillation, biological treatments, and advanced oxidation processes, often fall short when addressing complex water bodies with high salinity and organic pollutants. These methods typically rely on centralized infrastructure, consume significant energy, pose risks of secondary pollution, and struggle to tackle multiple contaminants simultaneously.
To address these challenges, a multidisciplinary research team led by Dr. Lu Han from Hebei Normal University of Science & Technology, Dr. Ningning Cao from Nanjing University, and Dr. Zhen Yu from City University of Hong Kong has developed a solar-powered photothermal-photocatalytic synergistic platform (SPSP). Their work, published in Nano Research on November 30, 2025, presents a breakthrough in sustainable water treatment by integrating desalination and pollutant degradation into a single, solar-driven system.
The SPSP is constructed from a novel PF/Co3O4/CNTs@O-ANF (PCCO) composite, which features a hierarchically designed 3D porous structure. This architecture enables broadband solar absorption, efficient photothermal conversion, and enhanced photocatalytic activity. Under one sun illumination (1 kW m–2), the system achieves an evaporation rate of 1.75 kg m–2 h–1 and degrades over 98% of tetracycline (TC) within three treatment cycles. Outdoor field tests conducted using TC-contaminated seawater from the Bohai Sea demonstrated the system’s robustness and practicality. The SPSP produced 6.82 kg m–2 of fresh water per day while maintaining a TC degradation rate exceeding 72%, even under fluctuating solar irradiance.
“By combining photothermal evaporation and photocatalytic degradation, our platform simultaneously generates clean water and breaks down harmful pollutants,” explained Dr. Han, the corresponding author of the paper. “This integrated approach is especially promising for off-grid and coastal communities where energy and infrastructure are limited.”
Water quality analysis confirmed that the treated water exhibited >99% removal of salts and organic contaminants, with neutral pH and no detectable antibiotic activity. Notably, irrigation experiments using the purified water showed that Brassica rapa plants achieved a 210% increase in biomass compared to those irrigated with contaminated water, highlighting the system’s potential for safe agricultural reuse.
The team attributes the high performance to the synergistic design of the PCCO material, which incorporates carbon nanotubes for photothermal conversion and cobalt oxide nanoparticles for catalytic activity, all stabilized by a hydrophobic perfluoroalkylsilane (PF) coating to prevent salt accumulation and catalyst leaching. “This work represents a paradigm shift toward modular, solar-based water purification technologies,” said Dr. Han. “We are now expanding the designed system to address other pollutants, like heavy metals and persistent organic compounds, to enhance its applicability across diverse environments.”
This work was supported by the Hebei Province Funding Project for Introducing Overseas Scholars (No. C20230119), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52202124), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2024YFA1002317), the Jiangsu Funding Program for Excellent Postdoctoral Talent (No. 2023ZB732), and the China Dongfang Electric Innovation Fund (No. DFI244320).
Overall, the authors believe that their findings will help drive the next generation of solar-driven purification technologies, delivering clean/safe water to communities worldwide while contributing to global environmental sustainability goals.
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 7,000 articles. In 2024 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2024 IF is 9.0 (8.7, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.