Alternative water resources (seawater, brackish water, atmospheric water, sewage, etc.) can be converted into clean freshwater via high-efficiency, energy-saving, and cost-effective methods to cope with the global water crisis. Herein, we provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of various solar-powered technologies for alternative water utilization (i.e., "sunlight-energy-water nexus"), including solar-thermal interface desalination (STID), solar-thermal membrane desalination (STMD), solar-driven electrochemical desalination (SED), and solar-thermal atmospheric water harvesting (ST-AWH). Three strategies have been proposed for improving the evaporation rate of STID systems above the theoretical limit and designing all-weather or all-day operating STID systems by analyzing the energy transfer of the evaporation and condensation processes caused by solar-thermal conversion. This review also introduces the fundamental principles and current research hotspots of two other solar-driven seawater or brackish water desalination technologies (STMD and SED) in detail. In addition, we also cover ST-AWH and other solar-powered technologies in terms of technology design, materials evolution, device assembly, etc. Finally, we summarize the content of this comprehensive review and discuss the challenges and future outlook of different types of solar-powered alternative water utilization technologies.

Solar-Powered Sustainable Water Production: State-of-the-Art Technologies for Sunlight-Energy-Water Nexus.

Natural sponge-like wood-derived aerogel for solar-assisted adsorption and recovery of high-viscous crude oil

Photothermal applications based on graphene and its derivatives: A state-of-the-art review

Photothermal and Joule heating-assisted thermal management sponge for efficient cleanup of highly viscous crude oil.

Sufficient and clean freshwater is still out of reach for billions of people around the world. Solar desalination from brine is regarded as one of the most promising proposals to solve this severe crisis. However, most of the reported evaporators to date still suffer from the decreasing evaporation rate caused by salt crystallization accumulated on their surface. Here, inspired by the vascular tissue structure, transpiration, and antifouling function of reed leaves, we design biomimetic hierarchical nanofibrous aerogels with parallel-arranged vessels and hydrophobic surfaces for highly efficient and salt-resistant solar desalination. Foldable vessel walls and flexible silica nanofibers give the reed leaf-inspired nanofiber aerogels (R-NFAs) excellent mechanical properties and enable them to withstand repeated compression. Besides, the R-NFAs can efficiently absorb sunlight (light absorption efficiency: 94.8%) and evaporate the brine to vapor, similar to reed leaves (evaporation rate: 1.25 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun). More importantly, enabled by the hydrophobic surfaces and parallel-arranged vessels, the R-NFAs can work stably in high-concentration brine (saturated, 26.3 wt %) under high-intensity light (up to 6 sun), demonstrating potent salt resistance. It is expected that R-NFAs with combined antisalt pore and surface structures will provide a designed concept for salt-resistant solar desalination.

Ding Yang Wang

Papers

Functional photothermal sponges for efficient solar steam generation and accelerated cleaning of viscous crude-oil spill

Polymer Up-Cycling by Mangana-Electrocatalytic C(sp 3)–H Azidation