Self-Cleaning Integrative Aerogel for Stable Solar-Assisted Desalination.

The solar-assisted desalination generator (SADG) shows great potential for solving water scarcity problems. However, salt precipitation and accumulation is still a challenge for SADG, which slows down solar steam generation performance of evaporator during operation. Here, a facile integrative evaporator featuring stable and high evaporation performance breaks this bottleneck. By using a rational design in which amorphous carbon particles are evenly composited within the porous chitosan aerogel, the evaporator not only integrates excellent light absorption, heat management, and water transportation abilities but also endows a large vapor escape space. Upon desalination, salt concentration ingredients between carbon particles and chitosan membranes can be quickly balanced by water transport in interconnected chitosan chains, and thus salt precipiation on the evaporator surface would be avoided. Compared to other salt-rejection evaporators, the integrative evaporator can operate in 3.5 wt% brine for 60 days without salt precipiation and exhibits a stable evaporation rate (1.70 kg m-2 h-1), indicating its potential for practical applications in seawater desalination and the harvest of clean drinking water.

Gu Y ，Mu X ，Wang P ，Wang X ，Tian Y ，Wei A ，Zhang J ，Chen Y ，Sun Z ，Zhou J ，Miao L ... -  《GLOBAL CHALLENGES》

Tailoring the Salt Transport Flux of Solar Evaporators for a Highly Effective Salt-Resistant Desalination with High Productivity.

Yang H ，Sun Y ，Peng M ，Cai M ，Zhao B ，Li D ，Liang Z ，Jiang L ... -  《-》

3D porous N-doped lignosulfonate/graphene oxide aerogel for efficient solar steam generation and desalination.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation has been considered one of the most promising approaches to tackle the issue of water scarcity. The salt resistance and water transport capacity of solar evaporation materials are essential to evaluate desalination performance. Herein, a 3D-porous N-doped lignosulfonate/graphene oxide (GO) aerogel (NLGA) was facilely prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. By introducing ethylenediamine (EDA) as a nitrogen source, the wettability and water transport capacity of the aerogel were enhanced; by introducing lignosulfonate (LS), its porous structure was regulated, and its light absorption capability was significantly improved. The obtained aerogel exhibited an outstanding evaporation rate (1.57 kg m-2 h-1) and efficiency (95.2 %) under 1 sun illumination, which is significantly better than some reported foam-based solar evaporators. In addition, NLGA maintained a stable evaporation rate over long-term cyclic evaporation without visible salt accumulation on the surface. The good salt rejection performance is due to the rich-pore structure and superhydrophilicity of NGLA, which provides sufficient water supply to dissolve the salts during water evaporation. NLGA has enormous potential as a solar evaporator based on its excellent performance in solar vapor generation.

Xu H ，Lu Y ，Jiang F ，Zhang J ，Ge Y ，Li Z ... -  《-》

Multifunctional Super-Hydrophilic MXene/Biomass Composite Aerogel Evaporator for Efficient Solar-Driven Desalination and Wastewater Treatment.

Chen S ，Zheng D ，Cen Q ，Yoo CG ，Zhong L ，Yang D ，Qiu X ... -  《-》

Flexible and Mildew-Resistant Wood-Derived Aerogel for Stable and Efficient Solar Desalination.

Zhang Q ，Li L ，Jiang B ，Zhang H ，He N ，Yang S ，Tang D ，Song Y ... -  《-》