An ecofriendly and efficient wood-based polyoxovanadate solar evaporation generator

Abstract

Currently, freshwater scarcity is a global challenge, and developing low-cost methods for purifying, desalinating, and distilling seawater is crucial. Natural wood, owing to its advantages of high hydrophilicity, low density, microporous channels, and low thermal conductivity, is widely considered a vehicle for solar evaporation. However, the majority of the reported wood-based solar evaporation generators have been economically inefficient, with limited evaporation rates under low-power solar irradiation. Herein, we developed an ecofriendly and efficient wood-based solar evaporation generator comprising a material with excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, polyoxovanadate, loaded on the wood surface with a natural channel structure. The solar evaporation generator exhibited high light absorption capacity (∼98%) in the wide wavelength range of 200–1200 nm, rapid water transport through the wood channels, minimal heat dissipation due to the adiabaticity of the wood, and reduced evaporation enthalpy. Therefore, the overall evaporation efficiency was increased, and a high evaporation rate of 2.23 kg m−2 h−1 and solar-vapor efficiency of 90% under 1 Sun was observed. This environment-friendly, low-cost, and high-efficiency evaporation generator has enormous potential for practical applications in solar desalination and water purification.