Recent progress in solar-driven interfacial water evaporation: Advanced designs and applications

Solar water evaporation plays a central role in low-energy fresh water production which is essential for both human health and economic development. The utilization of photothermal materials with broad solar absorption, in parallel to engineered evaporator designs, offers new approach to achieve efficient light-to-vapor conversion. Thereinto, the stratagem of interfacial water evaporation with the localized heating and restrictive heat losses, has gained wide recognition as an effective avenue towards high-performance sustainable solar steam generation. In this review, we discuss photothermal conversion processes of various solar absorber materials and the conceptual designs of different interfacial photothermal evaporation pertaining to judicious optical, thermal and wettability management, and finally the current progress in scalable saline water desalination, wastewater purification and energy generation applications. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the recent development in interfacial photothermal evaporation and to inspire research efforts/translations from laboratory to practical large-scale solar-driven clean water production. Furthermore, the opportunities of solar water evaporation should be explored beyond silos so as to conjointly address the interlinked water, energy and environmental nexus.