Abstract

Engineering the pore structure of evaporator to effectively integrate water and thermal management is critical for efficient solar-driven interfacial vapor generation. Here, inspired by the unique structure of Benincasa hispidas, a bioinspired pore-gradient aerogel was fabricated for the first time. Experiments and numerical simulations reveal that the unique anisotropic porous structure of aerogel, which consists of small-pores at top region and large-pores at bottom region, enabling it to maximize the heat gains from the sunlight and localize the generated heat while provide adequate water supply concurrently. Under solar illumination (1 kW m−2), the fabricated aerogel can achieve a high evaporation rate of 2.49 kg m−2h−1, and the calculated energy efficiency is approximately 96.3 %, which is comparable to most of state-of-the-art evaporators. Additionally, with this aerogel employed, effective purification toward various undrinkable water can be achieved. This work derives from nature, providing us a design blueprint to integrate water and thermal management in a bulky material, and it is expected to advance one step further toward the design and practical application of high-performance solar evaporators.

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