Heat-Localized and Salt-Resistant 3D Hierarchical Porous Ceramic Platform for Efficient Solar-Driven Interfacial Evaporation

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) is a highly promising approach to achieve sustainable desalination and tackle the global freshwater crisis. Despite advancements in this field, achieving balanced thermal localization and salt resistance remains a challenge. Herein, the study presents a 3D hierarchical porous ceramic platform for SDIE applications. The utilized alumina foam ceramics (AFCs) exhibit remarkable corrosion resistance and chemical stability, ensuring a prolonged operational lifespan in seawater or brines. The millimeter-scale air-filled pores in AFCs prevent thermal losses through conduction with bulk water, resulting in heat-localized interfaces. The hydrophilic nature of macroporous AFC skeletons facilitates rapid water replenishment on the evaporating surface for effective salt-resistant desalination. Benefiting from its self-radiation adsorption and side-assisted evaporation capabilities, the AFC-based evaporators exhibit high indoor evaporation rates of 2.99 and 3.54 kg m-2 h-1 under one-sided and three-sided illumination under 1.0 sun, respectively. The AFC-based evaporator maintains a high evaporation rate of approximate to 2.77 kg m-2 h-1 throughout the 21-day long-term test. Furthermore, it achieves a daily water productivity of approximate to 10.44 kg m-2 in outdoor operations. This work demonstrates the potential of 3D hierarchical porous ceramics in addressing the trade-off between heat localization and salt resistance, and contributes to the development of durable solar steam generators. The study has designed a 3D hierarchical porous ceramic platform to enable efficient and stable solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE). The utilized alumina foam ceramics (AFCs) integrate air-filled millimeter pores for heat insulation and water-filled macropores for water transport, effectively achieving a balance between thermal localization and salt resistance in SDIE systems. Benefiting from its self-radiation adsorption and side-assisted evaporation capabilities, the optimized AFC-based evaporator exhibits a high evaporation rate during long-term operation. image