Review on the structural design of solar-driven interfacial evaporation

Abstract

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) technology represents a promising solution to the global water crisis. Despite numerous reviews exit, most of them concentrating on optimizing single or a few specific structures, there is still lack of systematic summaries regarding the structural design of interfacial solar evaporators (ISEs). Systematic investigations into the structural design of ISEs remain notably absent across four critical operational dimensions: light absorption, thermal management, water transport and salt-resistant. This review, for the first time, systematically summarizes ISEs structural design strategies from these four dimensions. We thoroughly explore innovative designs for the light absorption layer, including multiple light reflections, light scattering recovery, incident angle compensation and increased light-absorbing surface area. Thermal management approaches, such as thermal concentration, insulation, latent heat recovery, environmental energy gain and evaporation enthalpy reduction, are systematically categorized. Additionally, we innovatively propose five types of water channel structures (vertical, horizontal, radial, topological and bionic) and five salt-resistant structures (Janus, self-moving, curved, asymmetric and porous). These efforts provide comprehensive structural design guidance for the stable operation of ISEs. Finally, based on practical application requirements, we discuss the structural design challenges and future prospects for ISEs in scalable production. This review not only fills the gap in systematic summaries in this field but also establishes a new theoretical framework and research directions for the design and scalable application of high-performance ISEs.