Biomimetic Micro-Nanostructured Evaporator with Dual-Transition-Metal MXene for Efficient Solar Steam Generation and Multifunctional Salt Harvesting

Abstract Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is one of the most attractive approaches to addressing the global freshwater shortage. However, achieving an integrated high evaporation rate, salt harvesting, and multifunctionality in evaporator is still a crucial challenge. Here, a novel composite membrane with biomimetic micro-nanostructured superhydrophobic surface is designed via ultrafast laser etching technology. Attractively, the double‐transition‐metal (V 1/2 Mo 1/2 ) 2 CT x MXene nanomaterials as a photothermal layer, exhibiting the enhanced photothermal conversion performance due to elevated joint densities of states, which enables high populations of photoexcited carrier relaxation and heat release,…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: U2106216, 52331004
• CP
  China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

  Award: 2023M732677
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
• PI
  Postdoctoral Innovation Project of Shandong Province
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities