We developed a welding method to fabricate robust 3D Ag/AgCl nanowire (Ag/AgCl NW) networks which exhibit higher photodegradation efficiency than 2D Ag/AgCl NW films, and proposed a new photoreactor with confined flow to further enhance the mass transfer efficiency of the 3D Ag/AgCl nanowire networks. This photoreactor with high throughput can be easily scaled up to one square meter size and exhibits high performance under sunlight. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the lifetime of the 3D Ag/AgCl nanowire networks can be greatly prolonged by a facile in situ chemical recovery method. The 3D structuring of Ag/AgCl nanowire networks, combined with the confined flow design and in situ chemical recovery strategy, will pave the way for the practical application of Ag/AgCl nanostructures in solar-powered water purification with high efficiency and throughput in the future.

We design an oil collection apparatus based on a simple combination of porous hydrophobic and oleophilic materials (PHOMs) with pipes and a self-priming pump to realize in-situ consecutive collection of oil from the water surface.The PHOMs of the apparatus selectively absorbs oil from the water-oil interface while repelling water. Driving by the suction force provided by the self-priming pump, the absorbed oil in the PHOMs flow along the pipes to the collecting tank, leaving the PHOMs consistently capable for oil uptake until the oil near PHOMs is removed. This self- controlled oil collection design will not only save a large amount of PHOM material but also make the recovery of absorbed oil easier and faster.