Integrated light adsorption and thermal insulation of Zn doping 1T phase MoS2-based evaporation prototype for continuous freshwater generation

• Zn doping 1T-MoS 2 was fabricated via a simple one-step hydrothermal method. • Zn-MoS 2 modified sorghum straw was constructed to cone-shaped evaporation device. • The device displayed superior light harvesting and remarkable thermal insulation. • The water productivity of the home-made prototype was 23.23 kg m -2 in the daytime. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is regarded as an emerging technology to produce freshwater from seawater or wastewater to alleviate the global water crisis. The advanced interfacial solar evaporation system with three-dimensional (3D) structure is devised to achieve high photothermal-conversion efficiency. Considering that photothermal materials is decisive to the improvement of the solar evaporation systems, Zn doping 1T-MoS 2 (denoted as Zn-MoS 2 ) is fabricated via a simple one-step hydrothermal method for achieving high solar absorption. Zn-MoS 2 modified bio-waste sorghum straw (denoted as ZnMoSSE) is utilized to construct 3D solar evaporators with different structures. ZnMoSSE-based cone shaped evaporation device exhibits a notably high evaporation rate of 3.46 kg m -2 h -1 though enlarged evaporation surface under one sun illumination, which exceeds the theoretical limit (1.47 kg m -2 h -1 ). An ultrafast evaporation rate of up to 4.13 kg m -2 h -1 is achieved by the introduction of the convection flow. Furthermore, the ZnMoSSE-based cone shaped evaporation device possesses antifouling property with continuously treating high-salinity brine for 10 h, and stable evaporation performance even in 15 wt % NaCl brine. Experiments and COMSOL Multiphysics calculations imply that ZnMoSSE displays superior light harvesting, remarkable thermal insulation, fast water transportation and effective salt-resistant performance. Owing to the home-made water generation device containing sand for thermal insulation, the water productivity of device is 23.23 kg m -2 in the daytime, and an evaporation rate of 1.29 kg m -2 h -1 is obtained without solar irradiation. The novel water generation device enables facile scale-up of efficient lasting freshwater production, holding great promise for the practical application.