Solar-driven interfacial evaporation desalination has emerged as a promising strategy for alleviating the water scarcity crisis. However, the design of evaporators with excellent heat management and minimal heat loss to achieve high-efficiency clean water production remains a crucial challenge. Herein, inspired by the transpiration of mushrooms in nature, we demonstrated a bionic-structured hydrogel evaporator, fabricated with biomass lotus root starch (LR), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and ink-modified carbon quantum dots and TiO2 (i-CQDs-TiO2). The evaporated water can be instantly replenished during evaporation through the internal water circulation of the “stipe”, and the special structural design reduces the transfer of heat to the water. Therefore, the evaporator demonstrates excellent performance, with a pure water evaporation rate of up to 3.78 kg·m−2·h−1 and an efficiency of 98% (1 kW·m−2). More importantly, the evaporator has excellent salt resistance with an average evaporation rate of 3.49 kg·m−2·h−1 in 1–25 wt% brine. In addition, without salt scaling on the evaporation surface in 10 wt% brine for continuous 5 h of illumination. Furthermore, due to the coordinated photocatalysis of i-CQDs and TiO2, the catalytic degradation rates of TB and CR were up to 91.8% and 88.9%, respectively. With an efficient and stable desalination capacity, this solar evaporator with a bionic design offers a new pathway for sustainable solar desalination. 

Biomimetic hydrogel with directional heat regulation for efficient solar desalination

The pressing concern of escalating water scarcity has spurred the creation of advanced technologies, such as interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG), to tackle the challenge. ISSG employs solar energy for efficient water desalination and purification. This comprehensive review delves into various aspects of ISSG, primarily focusing on elucidating its mechanisms, optimizing substrate materials, implementing thermal management strategies, and exploring applications. The study dissects the intricate mechanism of ISSG, highlighting photothermal behaviors across different materials, including the significant role of nanoparticles in vapor generation. The impact of substrate composition and shape on solar evaporation efficiency is investigated, with multi-surface evaporators considered for environmental energy harnessing. To enhance performance, thermal management strategies, including innovative water transport paths for improved heat distribution, are assessed. Addressing key challenges like salt accumulation, biofouling, corrosion, and oil fouling, the review offers insights for issue mitigation. Practically, ISSG is spotlighted for its role in seawater desalination, wastewater treatment (e.g., dye and heavy metal removal), oil-water separation, and sterilization, extending its relevance across industries and healthcare. By comprehensively examining ISSG's mechanisms, substrate considerations, thermal strategies, and applications, this review advances its implementation as a transformative solution for global water challenges. 

Progress In Interfacial Solar Steam Generation Using Low-Dimensional and Biomass-Derived Materials

Biomass-enhanced Janus sponge-like hydrogel with salt resistance and high strength for efficient solar desalination

Architecting Janus hydrogel-fabric coupled evaporator for eliminating salt accumulation and highly efficient solar-driven brine desalination

A self-floating Janus PPy@Ni sponge salt-resisting solar evaporator for efficient interfacial evaporation

Interfacial evaporation using light-absorbing hydrogels offers efficient solar evaporation performance under natural sunlight, ensuring an affordable clean water supply. However, achieving light-absorbing hydrogels with durable and efficient utilization is still a challenge due to inevitable salt accumulation, a difficult-to-control surface morphology, and poor mechanical properties on the surfaces of hydrogel-based evaporators. In this work, a photothermal sponge-like hydrogel with a 3D interconnected porous structure was constructed using low-cost activated carbon as a photothermal material, as well as a double-network polymer chain as the basic skeleton using a simple foaming polymerization strategy. The sponge-like hydrogel evaporator showed tailored surface topography, adequate water transport, excellent elasticity and toughness, good salt rejection, and thermal localization properties. Under the irradiation of simulated sunlight (1.0 kW/m2), a high evaporation rate of 2.33 kg·m-2·h-1 was achieved. Furthermore, efficient salt self-cleaning behavior was achieved due to the fast ion diffusion within the 3D interconnected porous structures. Even in highly concentrated brine of 15 wt %, continuous and efficient water evaporation was still achieved. The excellent evaporation and salt rejection properties of this photothermal sponge-like hydrogel indicated its promising long-term sustainable utilization in seawater desalination.

Sustainable Self-Cleaning Evaporators for Highly Efficient Solar Desalination Using a Highly Elastic Sponge-like Hydrogel.

Solar evaporative desalination technology is one of the most promising technologies to alleviate freshwater shortages, but the preparation of an inexpensive and sustainable 3D substrate remains a challenge. Lignocellulosic sponge (LS) is a commercial product that is widely available, clean, renewable, degradable, inexpensive, and porous. In this work, LS was found to be a good substrate for photothermal evaporation. LS has good compatibility with polypyrrole (PPy), which has excellent photothermal conversion performance. A simple and effective photothermal conversion evaporator (PPy-LS) was obtained by in situ polymerization of pyrrole on the surface of LS by chemical oxidation. The as-prepared PPy-LS exhibited good light absorption and thermal management capabilities, possessing an evaporation rate of 1.85 kg m–2 h–1 and an evaporation efficiency of 88.65% at 1 sunlight. PPy-LS also had excellent mechanical properties, superhydrophilicity, and water absorption. Combined with its porous network structure, PPy-LS exhibited good salt tolerance in 10 wt % NaCl solution and excellent thermal management capability. The PPy-LS solar evaporation device has the advantages of a simple preparation method, good durability, and sustainability, which provides an important direction for solar interface evaporation. 

Sustainable Lignocellulose-Based Sponge Coated with Polypyrrole for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

The hydrogel-based evaporator for interface evaporation provides a method for sustainable freshwater production. However, salt accumulation on the surface of the steam generator affects light absorption and reduces steam generation efficiency. Achieving a high-performance, salt-resistant steam generator remains challenging. Here, sponge-like polyelectrolyte composite hydrogel-based solar steam generator (MPS) is reported. The steam generator is designed with an interpenetrating network topology and is made by in-situ polymerizing sodium polyacrylate (P(SA)) in a sponge-like polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel framework, using molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as a photothermal conversion material. Through the foaming process, MPS achieves self-floating and good water transportation performance, which enhances the thermal localization effect on the hydrogel surface and improves energy utilization efficiency (92.95 %), enabling efficient evaporation (3.22 kg m−2h−1). Meanwhile, due to the coupling of P(SA), MPS exhibits excellent salt resistance, maintaining a long-term evaporation rate of 2.8 kg m−2h−1 in high concentration saltwater (20 wt%). The porous structure and interconnected polymer chains enhance the mechanical performance of MPS, making it highly compressible and convenient for collecting freshwater marine and wilderness environments. The preparation strategy of MPS provides a feasible method to simultaneously improve the performance and durability of the interface steam generator in practical applications. 

Spongy polyelectolyte hydrogel for efficient Solar-Driven interfacial evaporation with high salt resistance and compression resistance

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation technology stands out as a promising solution for sustainable freshwater production. To achieve sustained and efficient water evaporation, it is crucial to carefully modulate the distribution of water content within the solar evaporator. In this study, a novel light-temperature responsive composite hydrogel-based solar evaporator was successful constructed. This involved the incorporation of a hydrophilic backbone (polyacrylamide) and a highly efficient solar absorber (multi-walled carbon nanotubes) into a temperature-sensitive hydrogel polymer backbone (poly (N, N-diethylacrylamide)). Due to its low critical solution temperature, the evaporator can undergo a hydrophilic/hydrophobic phase transition alternating day and night conditions. In natural sunlight, the upper hydrogel evaporation region is rendered hydrophobic, minimizing heat loss and preventing salt crystallization. Simultaneously, the bottom water delivery region is hydrophilic to ensure sufficient water supply. At night, the evaporator absorbs water and dissolves, thereby facilitating the rapid return of highly concentrated brine. Leveraging the spontaneously formed Janus structure, the photo-hydrothermal hydrogel achieves an impressive evaporation rate of 2.74 kg m-2 h-1 and exhibits excellent salt resistance. The notable water evaporation performance and robust salt resistance provide exciting possibilities for achieving ultrafast solar water purification. 

Thermoresponsive Janus hybrid hydrogel for efficient solar steam generation

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