All-Day Freshwater Harvesting by Selective Solar Absorption and Radiative Cooling

Solar interfacial evaporation for freshwater harvesting has received attention recently due to its high evaporation rate and environmental friendliness. Traditional interfacial evaporation mostly uses black porous polymers to absorb solar radiation and transport water which involve high thermal radiation loss to the environment and heat conduction loss to the bulk water. In addition, the freshwater collection ratio is usually lower than the solar evaporation ratio due to the high temperature of the condensation surface under solar irradiation, and no freshwater can be harvested at night due to the absence of sunlight. Here, we design an all-day freshwater-harvesting device using a solar-selective absorber (SSA) and sky radiative cooling. The prepared SSA with a high solar absorptance of 0.92 and a mid-infrared thermal emittance of 0.11 provides a great solar-thermal conversion performance (87.1% vs 51.4% for the black porous polymer at 25 degrees C) by minimizing the thermal radiation loss, and a hollow structure is also used to reduce the conductive heat loss, resulting in a high solar evaporation rate (1.23 vs 0.79 kg m(-2) h(-1) for the black porous polymer). In addition, a transparent radiative cooling polymer after plasma treatment is used for freshwater collection by enhancing the solar transmittance (0.92) and mid-infrared thermal emittance (0.91 at 25 degrees C). A theoretical freshwater collection rate of 0.044 kg m(-2) h(-1) is achieved at night-time. Outdoor results show that the all-day water harvesting is 0.87 kg m(-2). This strategy to achieve all-day water collection by coupling with the SSA and transparent radiative cooling has potential application in the field of desalination and freshwater harvesting in tropical desert areas.

Automated summary

Solar interfacial evaporation for freshwater harvesting is an efficient and environmentally friendly method. Traditional methods have losses due to thermal radiation and heat conduction, and cannot collect water at night. This study presents an all-day freshwater-harvesting device using a solar-selective absorber and sky radiative cooling, showing high efficiency and potential application.