Solar steam generation as a promising solar energy conversion technology has attracted considerable interest in achieving seawater desalination and water purification. Although wood with fast water transportation and excellent heat localization has drawn particular interest in regard to its application for solar steam generation, challenges still remain in terms of its complicated processing techniques and relatively low efficiency. Here, we propose a facile, cost-efficient, and scalable brushing method to prepare an aluminophosphate-treated wood (Wood@AlP) solar steam generation device. The aluminophosphate compound deposited on the wood surface can not only be considered as the Lewis acid catalyst capable of accelerating the formation of the carbon layer but also provide an aluminophosphate layer with a hierarchical porous structure, which is beneficial for broad solar absorption and vapor escape. On the other hand, benefiting from the natural hydrophilicity, low thermal conductivity, and excellent water transportation of wood, the obtained Wood@AlP device can float on seawater and exhibit a high solar thermal efficiency of 90.8% with a net evaporation rate of 1.423 kg m–2 h–1 under 1 sun illumination.

Aluminophosphate inorganic adhesive (APIA), as a binder for wood-based boards (WBB), is synthesized between Al­(OH)3 and H3PO4 in solution with hydrothermal treatment in this study. Aluminophosphate compounds with hierarchical lamellar structure are observed on the fibers’ surface. The rheological behavior analysis reveals that the viscosity of APIA varied with its P/Al molar ratio [n­(P)/n­(Al)]. P–O–Al bridges are formed during the hydrothermal treatment of the APIA. The amounts of hydrogen bonds are formed between APIA and wood fibers, which could explain the improvement in mechanical properties of the WBB. In this study, the optimal n­(P)/n­(Al) in APIA is found to be 2.8, where the bonding strength, together with an acceptable viscosity are found at 1.83 MPa and 31.3 m Pa·s, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the residual weight of plywood is 44.97% greater than pure wood fibers, indicating the fire resistance of the WBB in the study is improved.

A cake making strategy is developed to prepare reduced graphene oxide wrapped plant fiber sponges for high-efficiency solar steam generation.

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