<p>Interfacial solar vapor generation (SVG) has emerged as a promising strategy for water purification and desalination. Among SVG technologies, hydrogel-based evaporators stand out for their high energy efficiency and effective evaporation, but their performance often collapses under high irradiance due to insufficient water transport. Here we develop an ultralow-density rigid-network (ULR) hydrogel engineered for ultrafast water transport and evaporation. The ULR network maximizes water content and establishes steep osmotic-pressure gradients for rapid water supply, while the rigid, anti-shrinkage framework preserves hierarchical pores, sustaining capillary-driven flow and maintaining continuous vapor production under extreme irradiance. ULR evaporators surpass traditional hydrogels’ theoretical maximum water transport rate, achieving an evaporation rate of 25.57 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ at 10 suns for 100 h. In practical trials, a low-cost module produced 138 L m⁻² day⁻¹, yielding 12.42 L day⁻¹ of potable water. This design advances hydrogel-based SVG toward robust, affordable solutions for real-world water scarcity.</p>

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Ultralow-density rigid network hydrogels enable ultrafast and stable solar water desalination

  • Chengfei Liu,
  • Chuxin Lei,
  • Shuting Shen,
  • Hao Jiang,
  • Mingyang Li,
  • Pengfei Qi,
  • Yan Wang,
  • Wenxin Fan,
  • Kunyan Sui,
  • Guihua Yu

摘要

Interfacial solar vapor generation (SVG) has emerged as a promising strategy for water purification and desalination. Among SVG technologies, hydrogel-based evaporators stand out for their high energy efficiency and effective evaporation, but their performance often collapses under high irradiance due to insufficient water transport. Here we develop an ultralow-density rigid-network (ULR) hydrogel engineered for ultrafast water transport and evaporation. The ULR network maximizes water content and establishes steep osmotic-pressure gradients for rapid water supply, while the rigid, anti-shrinkage framework preserves hierarchical pores, sustaining capillary-driven flow and maintaining continuous vapor production under extreme irradiance. ULR evaporators surpass traditional hydrogels’ theoretical maximum water transport rate, achieving an evaporation rate of 25.57 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ at 10 suns for 100 h. In practical trials, a low-cost module produced 138 L m⁻² day⁻¹, yielding 12.42 L day⁻¹ of potable water. This design advances hydrogel-based SVG toward robust, affordable solutions for real-world water scarcity.