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.