A Novel Salt-Rejecting Linen Fabric-Based Solar Evaporator for Stable and Efficient Water Desalination under Highly Saline Water

Abstract

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has been considered as a potential pathway for yielding freshwater from seawater. However, the significant reduction of the evaporation rate has become an immediate problem because of the inevitable salt accumulation on evaporators during long-term evaporation, especially for highly saline water. Here, a novel efficient linen fiber-based solar steam generator by combination of broadband light absorption, superhydrophilicity, and a unique transition layer of water between a solar evaporator and a thermal insulator for simultaneously enhanced thermal management and water supply is reported. Through coupling of enhanced thermal management and sufficient water supply, the as-prepared solar steam generator achieves an excellent evaporation rate of 1.447 kg·m–2·h–1 and a conversion efficiency of over 90% under 1 sun irradiation in 20 wt % saline water. Our investigation in this work may open up a simple and new avenue to design and fabricate a low cost and effective solar receiver toward highly saline water desalination.