Poly(N-phenylglycine)-Based Bioinspired System for Stably and Efficiently Enhancing Solar Evaporation

Realizing high-efficiency solar evaporation has great potential for purification of sewage and seawater desalination. However, continuous water supply, solar energy conversion, and thermal management must be further studied to improve water evaporation. In this research, inspired by the Amazon water lily, an interfacial water-trapping tridimensional structure solar evaporator was developed to achieve continuous supply of water from the water-trapping layer and three-dimensional heat distribution management. First, an artificial photothermal membrane with poly(N-phenylglycine) (PNPG) was conveniently prepared by vacuum filtration. Then, combined with the three-dimensional heat distribution management design and the water-trapping layer for continuous supply of water, more optimized energy utilization and efficient interface heating were realized. Besides, because the novel nanoscale PNPG has excellent light capture performance and the absorbed solar energy can be concentrated in the water-trapping layer, the solar evaporation is more effective, showing higher energy efficiency (93.5%) and higher evaporation rate (1.72 kg m–2 h–1) under 1 sun. A special structure is designed to minimize energy loss and better regulate the connection between water evaporation, solar energy conversion, and thermal regulation. According to the results, these bioinspired solar evaporators can provide new ideas for designing high-efficiency solar evaporator structures and provide new opportunities for practical applications.