Renewable biomass reinvigorates sustainable water-energy nexus

Abstract

The water–energy nexus has garnered worldwide interest. Current dual-functional research aimed at co-producing freshwater and electricity faces significant challenges, including sub-optimal capacities (“1 + 1 < 2”), poor inter-functional coordination, high carbon footprints, and large costs. Mainstream water-to-electricity conversions are often compromised owing to functionality separation and erratic gradients. Herein, we present a sustainable strategy based on renewable biomass that addresses these issues by jointly achieving competitive solar-evaporative desalination and robust clean electricity generation. Using hydrothermally activated basswood, our solar desalination exceeded the 100% efficiency bottleneck even under reduced solar illumination. Through simple size-tuning, we achieved a high evaporation rate of 3.56 kg h−1 m−2 and an efficiency of 149.1%, representing 128%–251% of recent values without sophisticated surface engineering. By incorporating an electron–ion nexus with interfacial Faradaic electron circulation and co-ion-predominated micro-tunnel hydrodynamic flow, we leveraged free energy from evaporation to generate long-term electricity (0.38 W m−3 for over 14d), approximately 322% of peer performance levels. This inter-functional nexus strengthened dual functionalities and validated general engineering practices. Our presented strategy holds significant promise for global human–society–environment sustainability.