Recently, good news came from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Processes, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research team of the Membrane Separation and Catalysis Research Group of the Institute has successfully developed a functional perovskite oxide porous membrane and energy-saving regeneration technology, which is a new type of perovskite oxide in China. Development and catalytic-membrane separation performance research has made important scientific and technological achievements.

　　 Biological pollutants such as algae and a wide range of organic pollutants often exist in natural waters. During the evaporation process driven by sunlight, pollutants will accumulate and grow in the photothermal film, causing film fouling and reducing the performance of the film material. High-temperature degradation can effectively remove biological and organic pollutants, and is an ideal means to achieve membrane regeneration. However, the thermal decomposition process of pollutants requires a higher temperature, which will cause huge energy consumption. Lowering the combustion decomposition temperature of pollutants can effectively reduce energy consumption, realize energy-saving regeneration of membrane materials, and promote the application of photothermal materials in actual water environments.

　　 Researcher Jiang Heqing, head of the Membrane Separation and Catalysis Research Group of Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Processes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed that the use of the catalytic and photothermal properties of cobalt-based perovskites to develop multifunctional perovskite oxide porous membranes. Under the guidance of this idea, associate researcher Wang Yuchao of the research group developed a porous membrane of perovskite oxide La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 (LSCO). In the test with algae and melamine as pollutants, the LSCO porous membrane significantly reduces the combustion decomposition temperature of the pollutants attached to it, reduces the energy consumption of the porous membrane during the combustion process, and achieves the purpose of energy-saving regeneration. Due to the high thermal stability of the LSCO porous membrane, the performance is basically not affected after multiple membrane regeneration cycles.

　　 This work cleverly uses the photothermal and catalytic properties of perovskite oxides to solve the problem of biological pollution of photothermal films in practical applications. (Reporter Wang Jiangao, Correspondent Liu Jia)