Hydrogel‐Enabled Photovoltaic Thermal Management: Materials Design, System Integration, and the Energy‐Water Nexus

ABSTRACT Conventional fossil fuel combustion intensifies environmental problems, while elevated operating temperatures severely limit the power output and durability of photovoltaic technologies. Hydrogel‐driven photovoltaic thermal management exploits the intrinsic water‐retention and evaporation properties of hydrogels to overcome the limitations of conventional cooling. This strategy provides an innovative solution to temperature‐induced performance degradation in photovoltaic systems. This review summarizes recent progress in hydrogel‐driven photovoltaic thermal management. First, this review compares existing photovoltaic cooling technologies and finds superior performance for hydrogel‐based passive evaporative cooling. This performance originates from hydrophilic functional groups in hydrogel networks and reduced effective evaporation enthalpy. Then, this review analyzes hydrogel material design strategies from four aspects: polymer network mechanisms, three‐dimensional network structures, functional components, and macroscopic composite architectures. Next, this review discusses system integration and configuration strategies for hydrogel‐driven photovoltaic cooling, including closely attached configurations, packed bed structures, heat sink coupled systems, and multifunctional cogeneration designs. These systems demonstrate the potential for coordinated energy and water utilization. Finally, this review summarizes key technical challenges and proposes future research directions.