Affiliation:
1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials (Hubei University) Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials Co-constructed by the Province and Ministry School of Materials Science and Engineering Hubei University Wuhan 430062 P. R. China
2. Collaborative Innovation Centre for Optoelectronic Science & Technology International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics Shenzhen University Shenzhen 518060 P. R. China
Abstract
Solar‐driven evaporation technology is rejuvenated by multifunctional photothermal materials into complimentary energy conversion applications. These multifunctional materials endow broadband solar absorptions, chemical/physical stability, porous, and active sites for in ‐situ photodegradation with exceptional solar‐to‐vapor conversion efficiencies. The structural configuration of evaporation structures is significantly improved by effective thermal management and salt‐resistant water channels with balanced relation between evaporation flux and water intake. These attributes lead this technology to higher evaporation rates and complimentary applications such as waste heat recovery to thermoelectricity, salt collection from seawater, and micro‐organism disinfection from wastewater. This review comprehensively reports the recent advances in state‐of‐the‐art multifunctional materials, novel evaporation designs with significant structural optimization, and their small‐scale prototypes. The current challenges, origins, and possible solutions are provided. This systematic review inspires the nanoresearch community to push forward solar‐driven evaporation technology with superb complimentary energy conversion applications.