Solar steam generation, utilizing abundant solar energy and floating photothermal materials, has been considered as one of the most sustainable, efficient ways to solve the problem of water shortage. Here, a new system for solar steam generation is fabricated based on a PEGylated MoS-cotton cloth (PMoS-CC). 80.5-90 ± 3.5% of high-efficiency solar steam generation is achieved under a light density of 1-5 kW m because of the good gas permeability of CC and the hydrophilic property of PMoS-CC. The self-growth PMoS-CC provides good photothermal performances in pure water and saline water. The water evaporation rate with PMoS-CC keeps a stable value after a long-time illumination (4 h) and 32 times cycle tests. Our result provides a way to prepare pure water in the applications for alleviating a scarcity of drinking water.

Solar-driven steam generation is anticipated as one of the most promising and inventive technologies to address the primitive issues of water shortage. Although extensive attempts have been made to develop highly efficient solar steam generators, hindrances are faced to integrate all desired functions in a single evaporating system. Herein, we designed semiconductive in situpolymerized MnO 2 nanowires/chitosan (SPM-CH) hydrogels as flexible, built-in, vertically aligned, macropore-based water channels (∼0.5 μm pore size) for enhanced solar water generation (17.02 kg m −2 in 1 day). The nonradiative relaxation-dependent defect engineering of SPM-CH hydrogel promotes more lattice vibrations, and its polymeric network endorses the formation of enhanced intermediate water clusters for vapor generation. The self-floating and salt-resistant device possesses an excellent evaporation rate (1.78 kg m −2 h −1 ) during a single sunny day along with efficient solar energy conversion efficiency (90.6%) under 1 sun intensity, good solar absorption (94%), and good compressing flexibility (42% compressive strain). Moreover, COMSOL Multiphysics simulations of SPM-CH hydrogels under experimental conditions reveal its superior centralized heat accumulation within the top-interface matrix. The single-step execution for a freshwater supply purified from various contaminations including industrial wastewater and oil-emulsified water shows its potential as a reusable device toward real-life applications.

Solar steam generation and photocatalytic degradation have been regarded as the most promising techniques to address clean water scarcity issues. Although enormous efforts have been devoted to exploring high-efficiency clean water generation, many challenges still remain in terms of single decontamination function, relatively low efficiency, and inability to practical application. Herein, we first report the bioinspired fabrication of black titania (BT) nanocomposites with moth-eye-like nanostructures on carbon cloth for solar-driven clean water generation through solar steam generation and photocatalytic degradation. The moth-eye-like BT nanoarrays can largely prolong the effective propagation path of absorbing light and enhance the scattering of light, thereby exhibiting outstanding light absorption of 96% in the full spectrum. Such hierarchical-nanostructured BT nanocomposites not only impressively achieve solar steam efficiency of 94% under a simulated light of 1 kW m–2 but also show the prominent performance of desalination and steam generation in real life condition. In addition, 96% of rhodamine B is degraded using BT nanocomposites as a photocatalyst in 100 min. The moth-eye-like bioinspired designing concept and bifunctional applications in this study may open up a new strategy for maximizing solar energy utilization and clean water generation.

Solar-driven water evaporation is deemed to be a green and sustainable strategy to cope with the global freshwater crisis. However, effective water evaporation to achieve high water yield in practical application is significant but usually neglected. Here, a molybdenum carbide/carbon-based chitosan hydrogel (MoCC-CH) is designed not only as a solar absorber but also as a water evaporation accelerator. The proportion of the chitosan matrix in the hydrogel is tunable to acquire low-tortuosity channels for facilitating solar-driven evaporation. Thus, the evaporation rate of MoCC-CH is up to ∼2.19 kg m–2 h–1, and a corresponding solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 96.15% is obtained under one sun illumination. The highly efficient water generation is also attributed to a novel water collection device and valid cooling strategy. The outdoor experiment possesses an excellent daily freshwater yield of 13.86 kg m–2 in one sunny day. The successful demonstration of both the well-designed hybrid hydrogel and an optimized passive solar desalination system offers the possibility for sustainable solar-driven desalination.

Harvesting solar energy for photothermal conversion in an efficient manner for steam-electricity cogeneration is particularly opportune in the context of comprehensive solar utilization to address the challenge of a global shortage of fresh water. However, the fragile solar thermal devices and the single-energy utilization pattern greatly hinder extensive solar energy exploitation and practical application. Herein, a flexible carbon cloth nanocomposite with a biomimetic pelargonium hortorum-petal-like surface that embraces all desirable chemical and physical properties, that is, enhanced light acquisition, excellent photothermal property, and operational durability, for high-performance solar-driven interfacial water evaporation distillation is reported. Combined with the two-dimensional water channel, the solar evaporator shows a solar-to-steam conversion efficiency of 93% under the simulated solar illumination of 1 kW m–2. More strikingly, the solar steam generation-induced electricity based on the practical consideration toward more infusive solar thermal application is proposed. Such integrative steam-electricity generators presented here provide an attractive method to produce on-site electricity and fresh water in an individualized mode in various resource-constrained areas.