Abstract: Solar distillation is widely used for seawater desalination and fresh water production because of low cost and low energy demand. When the temperature at the air-water interface reaches 40-70 ℃, however, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) will evaporate with water vapor and enrich in distilled water. To solve this problem, amphiphilic porous hydrogels were prepared by Pickering emulsion template method and applied in solar distillation process. We examined the performance of the hydrogel in solar distillation, including water evaporation rate, photothermal conversion efficiency and removal efficiency of phenol during wastewater treatment. The results showed that the PPC-5 hydrogel exhibited a water evaporation rate of 1.62 kg·m^-2·h^-1, a photothermal conversion efficiency of 96.8%, and a phenol removal efficiency of 71.3%. Our results indicate that the amphiphilic porous hydrogel provides an effective way for the treatment of phenol-contaminated wastewater and offers a new idea for solving the difficulty in removing VOCs in the process of solar distilled water treatment.

Key words: solar distillation, amphiphilic porous hydrogel, emulsion template method, phenol, adsorption