Three-Dimensional Spiral Evaporator with Side Channels for Efficient Solar-Driven Water Purification

Solar evaporators have the advantages of not consuming fossil fuels, being environmentally friendly, and nonpolluting, offering a promising sustainable method to obtain fresh water and alleviate the worldwide freshwater shortage crisis. In this work, we report that high-performance solar evaporators can be facilely fabricated by processing a cost-effective polypyrrole (PPy)-coated nonwoven fabric (PCNF) into a three-dimensional (3D) spiral structure and introducing side channels for vapor escape. The coated PPy layer ensures excellent photothermal properties and the chemical stability of the evaporator. Meanwhile, the as-created spiral structure of the evaporator can significantly increase the effective evaporation area and harvest energy from the environment, greatly stimulating the evaporation. The side opening channels can effectively facilitate the escape of vapor generated inside the 3D spiral structure, avoid the internal vapor accumulation, and ultimately promote the evaporation of the inner surface, leading to a boost of the evaporation performance. Combining these features, the resulting evaporator exhibits an ultrahigh evaporation rate of 3.26 kg m-2 h-1 and an energy efficiency of 138% under 1-sun irradiation. More importantly, we show that this evaporator can also be used to collect fresh water from soil and sand, demonstrating its great applicability for obtaining potable water in arid areas.