Superelastic, arbitrary-shaped, and 3D assembled clay/graphene aerogels (CGAs) are fabricated using commercial foam as sacrificial skeleton. The CGAs possess superelasticity under compressive strain of 95% and compressive stress of 0.09-0.23 MPa. The use of clay as skeletal support significantly reduces the use of graphene by 50%. The hydrophobic CGAs show high solvent absorption capacity of 186-519 times its own weight. Moreover, both the compression and combustion methods can be adopted for reusing the CGAs. In particular, it is demonstrated a design of 3D assembled hydrophilic CGA equipped with salt collection system for continuous solar desalination. Due to energy recovery and brine transport management promoted by this design, the 3D assembled CGA system exhibits an extremely high evaporation rate of 4.11 kg m −2 h −1 and excellent salt-resistant property without salt precipitation even in 20 wt% brine for continuous 36 h illumination (1 kW m −2 ), which is the best reported result from the solar desalination devices. More importantly, salts can be collected conveniently by squeezing and drying the solution out of the salt collection system. The work provides new insights into the design of 3D assembled CGAs and advances their applications in continuous solar desalination and efficient oil/organic solvent adsorption.

Sunlight, as one of the inexhaustible green energy sources, is attracting rising attention, particularly with the rapid depletion of traditional fossil fuels nowadays. Chitosan (CHT) is an abundant natural product that can be converted into N‐doped porous carbon which has a strong light absorption ability. Herein, chitosan is employed with the accordion‐like multilayered mMXene (mMXene) to fabricate the 3D thermally insulated and low‐cost composites using melamine foam (MF) as a template. The obtained MF/CHT/mMXene (MCM) composites with different mass ratios of mMXene/chitosan are then subject to a simple annealing treatment at 500 °C for 2 h to afford 3D and self‐floating carbonized carbonized MF/CHT/mMXene (CMCM) composites. The CMCM‐1 obtained with mass ratio of CHT/mMXene at 1:1 displays low thermal conductivity, high hydrophilicity, and good light absorbance. When it is utilized as the evaporator of pure water and seawater, its evaporation rates can reach at 1.554 and 1.428 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 kW m−2 irradiation and the photothermal conversion efficiency can reach at 89.8%. In addition, the CMCM‐1 composite also displays excellent desalination ability, self‐desalination ability, good cycle stability, and reliable safety performance. Combining these advantages, CMCM‐1 composite may have potential practical applications for seawater evaporation and wastewater treatment, etc.

Solar‐driven interfacial evaporation (SIE) is a promising desalination technology that utilizes solar energy and seawater. However, most SIE systems are limited by high cost, complex fabrication, and low salt tolerance. Herein, a simple method is presented for preparing a 3D graphene/carbon nanotubes/polypyrrole foam (GCPF) evaporator that exhibits high evaporation efficiency, excellent mechanical performance, and stable solar desalination of high‐salinity brine. The excellent processability of melamine foam enables the easy preparation of the 3D GCPF, which exhibits an enhanced evaporation rate of 4.012 kg m−2 h−1 and a photothermal conversion efficiency of 97.8% under one sun irradiation. Compared with the 2D sample, the GCPF‐3 evaporator utilizes solar energy more efficiently and maintains higher evaporation performance even when the light angle changes. Moreover, the 3D GCPF shows remarkable salt tolerance and durability, achieving a stable evaporation rate of 4.005 kg m−2 h−1 for 30 h with a salinity of 25 wt%, which is the best‐reported result among solar desalination systems. This work provides new insights into the design of 3D graphene composite foams and demonstrates their potential applications in continuous solar desalination.

Efficient utilization of solar energy for solar steam generation is an effective way to tackle the shortage of fresh water resources. However, the utilization of solar steam evaporators often suffers from a series of problems, such as high cost, complex processes, and low conversion rate, which seriously hinders the development of solar steam devices. Here, a polypyrrole/watermelon pulp (WPPY) evaporator, which is based on soaking freeze‐dried lumpy watermelon pulp (WP) in pyrrole solution, initiating polymerization in the ice bath, followed by heat‐treatment to achieve an efficient solar steam generation (SSG) device, is designed and produced. The WPPY with a pyrrole to WP mass ratio of 1:2 (WPPY‐3) exhibits a developed porous structure, superior hydrophilicity, relatively small thermal conductivity (0.0375 W m−1 K−1, a simple one‐step fabrication process, and superior light absorption (94.7%). Its evaporation rate reaches 1.64 kg m−2 h−1 without additional insulation, while the light‐to‐heat conversion efficiency reaches 96.1% under one solar irradiation (1 kW m−2) at the same time. Additionally, it also shows good durability. This environmentally friendly and stable photothermal conversion composite material that shows good cycle stability has great potential for applications in seawater desalination via SSG.