Tree‐Inspired Design for High‐Efficiency Water Extraction

Abstract

The solar steam process, akin to the natural water cycle, is considered to be an attractive approach to address water scarcity issues globally. However, water extraction from groundwater, for example, has not been demonstrated using these existing technologies. Additionally, there are major unaddressed challenges in extracting potable water from seawater including salt accumulation and long-term evaporation stability, which warrant further investigation. Herein, a high-performance solar steam device composed entirely of natural wood is reported. The pristine, natural wood is cut along the transverse direction and the top surface is carbonized to create a unique bilayer structure. This tree-inspired design offers distinct advantages for water extraction, including rapid water transport and evaporation in the mesoporous wood, high light absorption (≈99%) within the surface carbonized open wood channels, a low thermal conductivity to avoid thermal loss, and cost effectiveness. The device also exhibits long-term stability in seawater without salt accumulation as well as high performance for underground water extraction. The tree-inspired design offers an inexpensive and scalable solar energy harvesting and steam generation technology that can provide clean water globally, especially for rural or remote areas where water is not only scarce but also limited by water extraction materials and methods.

Multifunctional Solar Waterways: Plasma‐Enabled Self‐Cleaning Nanoarchitectures for Energy‐Efficient Desalination

“…[6,[16][17][18][19][20] However, water is a thermally conductive material with high thermal conductivity of 0.599 W K −1 m −1 , much higher than the commonly used thermal-insulating materials (e.g., 0.117 W K −1 m −1 of carbon foam, [6] 0.069 W K −1 m −1 of bacteria nanocellulose, [16] and 0.016 W K −1 m −1 of graphene foam [19] ). [6,[16][17][18][19][20] However, water is a thermally conductive material with high thermal conductivity of 0.599 W K −1 m −1 , much higher than the commonly used thermal-insulating materials (e.g., 0.117 W K −1 m −1 of carbon foam, [6] 0.069 W K −1 m −1 of bacteria nanocellulose, [16] and 0.016 W K −1 m −1 of graphene foam [19] ).…”

Thermal properties enhancement of poplar wood by substituting poly(furfuryl alcohol) for the matrix

“…This sophisticated structure has important effects on wood properties, especially related to moisture control, strength‐to‐weight ratio, and anisotropy. Moreover, recent studies have shown that wood's structural features are useful for a wide range of potential applications, such as mechanically stable scaffolds for stimuli‐responsive hydrogels, natural templates for nanoparticle assembly, wood membranes for water treatment, and water extraction . However, its hierarchical structure is underused in most wood‐based materials and, therefore, its beneficial properties cannot be fully leveraged …”

Systematic Study of the Effects of System Geometry and Ambient Conditions on Solar Steam Generation for Evaporation Optimization

“…The preparation process and cost of solar evaporators can therefore be greatly simplified and reduced, which is of great significance to future large-scale applications. [27,30] Hydrophilicity is widely accepted as a desirable characteristic for solar evaporators because water at the base can be delivered promptly up to the top hot region, making evaporation efficient and sustainable. The highly rich mesostructure of balsa wood contributes to its super low density and good mechanical performance.…”

“…[38][39][40] However, in-depth understanding of evaporator-seawater interaction is not yet revealed systematically. [30,41] Soaking in waters with different salinity, specific weight of the wood block increased over time, but unlike the control experiment with pure water, salinity unaccountably retarded water uptake (Figure 5a).…”