Three-Dimensional Mirror-Assisted and Concave Pyramid-Shaped Solar–Thermal Steam Generator for Highly Efficient and Stable Water Evaporation and Brine Desalination

Although significant advances have been achieved in developing solar-driven water evaporators for seawater desalination, there is still room for simultaneously enhancing water evaporation efficiency, salt resistance, and utilization of solar energy. Herein, for the first time, we demonstrate a highly efficient three-dimensional (3D) mirror-assisted and concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal water evaporation system for high-yield and long-term desalination of seawater and brine water, which consists of a 3D concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal architecture on the basis of polypyrrole-coated nonwoven fabrics (PCNFs), a 3D mirror array, a self-floating polystyrene foam layer, and a tail-like PCNF for upward transport of water. The 3D concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal architecture enables multiple solar light reflections to absorb more solar energy, while the 3D mirror-assisted solar light enhancement design can activate the solar-thermal energy conversion of the back side of the concave pyramid-shaped PCNF architecture to improve the solar-thermal energy conversion efficiency. Crucially, selective accumulation of the precipitated salts on the back side of the concave pyramid-shaped architecture is realized, ensuring a favorable salt-resistant feature. The 3D mirror-assisted and concave pyramid-shaped solar-driven water evaporation system achieves a record high water evaporation rate of 4.75 kg m-2 h-1 under 1-sun irradiation only and exhibits long-term desalination stability even when evaporating high-salinity brine waters, demonstrating its great applicability and reliability for high-yield solar-driven desalination of seawater and high-salinity brine water.