Recent advances in solar-driven interfacial evaporation coupling systems: Energy conversion, water purification, and seawater resource extraction

Nowadays, the increasing scarcity of fresh water and energy poses a growing threat to sustainable human development, attracting global attention. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) technology has emerged as significant solution to address these challenges by harnessing solar energy for fresh water generation. In the process of vapor generation in the SDIE system, there are various untapped sources of energy such as waste thermal, mechanical energy, enthalpy of steam, and chemical gradient energies, which can be converted into electricity through appropriate modules. Besides, splitting vapor to produce hydrogen exhibits lower Gibbs energy compared to that of liquid water. Additionally, the evaporation concentration achieved by SDIE is beneficial for pollutant degradation and seawater resource extraction. Therefore, the various coupling hybrid systems have been explored to expand the advantages and application areas of SDIE. This review presents an overview of the fundamental principle and the structural design of the SDIE system, while summarizing and discussing different coupling hybrid systems involving energy conversion, water purification, and seawater resource extraction were summarized and discussed. Finally, the challenges faced by the coupling SDIE systems along with future opportunities were highlighted.