Solar Evaporators for Saline Water: Sustainable Clean Water Harvesting and Critical Mineral Resources Extraction

Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation (SIWE) can efficiently utilize solar energy to separate or extract various ions from saline water, providing an environmentally friendly, economical, and sustainable approach to clean water and critical mineral resources harvesting. However, for ongoing practical implementation, solid salt accumulation at the interface will inevitably impair the SIWE performance, while direct disposal of residual concentrated brine poses significant environmental risks. As such, advancing solar evaporators for sustainable clean water harvesting and critical mineral resources extraction is pivotal in the resources-energy-environment nexus. Critically, this review spotlights the latest…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 22209036, U23A20119
• MO
  Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

  Award: HZKY20220252
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province

  Awards: B2022202024, E2023202069
• HU
  Hebei University of Technology

  Awards: 424132016, 282021485
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2024YFF0506000