Chemical Engineering Journal

Solar vapor generation, Photothermal, Natural air convection

Solar-driven water evaporation has received significant attention for seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. However, photothermal energy loss via thermal radiation, thermal convection, and particularly heat conduction remains a major challenge that limits evaporation performance. Additionally, traditional 3D evaporators often suffer from closed inner structures that limit the evaporation surface area, cause vapor accumulation, and consequently reduce evaporation rates. In this work, we develop an innovative 3D hollow evaporator featuring a hybrid water supply mechanism that synergistically utilizes atmospheric pressure and capillary force. This strategy simultaneously expands the evaporation surface and minimizes the direct contact between the evaporation interface and bulk water, thereby decreasing the conductive heat loss to only 0.057 % of the total energy input. Furthermore, we add side openings onto the hollow structure to introduce passive air convection that accelerates internal vapor diffusion and mitigates vapor accumulation. Experimental results demonstrate a 25 % enhancement in evaporation rate for the side-opening evaporator, achieving an ultrahigh rate of 5.617 kg m−2 h−1 under one sun illumination. A four-day outdoor experiment in spring demonstrates freshwater production exceeding 10 kg m−2 with the potential for even higher yields in summer. Moreover, this evaporator can be simply assembled using 3D-printed scaffolds combined with low-cost, commercially available fabrics and foams without requiring sophisticated materials and pore-engineering technologies, leading to significantly reduced costs. Therefore, this work provides a low-cost and high-efficiency solar desalination solution.

Chonghui Yang,Ikram Ullah,Zeyad Almutairi,Risheng Duan,Yong Dong

Yuan Xiao

Journal paper

Pei Zhao,Ning Qin

167913

J

522

no

SCI