The solar-driven interface evaporation (SIE) technology presents a green and sustainable solution to the growing challenges of water resource scarcity. However, the salt crystallization and the thermal management are significant obstacles for the practical application of SIE. Herein, inspired by the transportation system of the escalator, a three-dimensional (3D) self-cycling evaporator (CDs-LR) with synergistic salt resistance and thermal management was fabricated by combining carbon dots (CDs) with the loofah rag (LR). The unique hydrophilicity, fibrous structure, and solar absorption properties allows the CDs-LR to achieve an exceptional evaporation rate of 5.21 kg·m -2 ·h -1 . More importantly, photovoltaic panels, a charge controller, and a rechargeable battery were integrated with CDs-LR to design a self-cycling device. During the daytime, the device efficiently evaporates water while storing electricity generated by photovoltaic panels in the battery. At night, the stored electrical energy powers the evaporator, enabling automatic salt removal and redissolution. The results of the 400 h evaporation experiment in a 10 wt.% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution and the COMSOL simulation of salt ion concentration confirm its outstanding salt resistance. Furthermore, experimental results indicate that CDs-LR exhibits excellent wastewater purification and antibacterial capabilities, making it a promising solution to the global water shortage problem. Inspired by the transportation system of the escalator, a self-cycling evaporator (CDs-LR) with synergistic salt resistance and thermal management was fabricated by combining carbon dots (CDs) with the loofah rag (LR). The evaporator offers targeted improvements to two key issues of rotary evaporators. On one hand, it minimizes the heat loss associated with device rotation. On the other hand, it overcomes the limitation where rotation can only be triggered after salt accumulates to a critical mass, thereby preventing the inevitable decline in evaporation rate. CDs-LR exhibits excellent wastewater purification and antibacterial capabilities, making it a promising solution to the global water shortage problem. • A self-cycling evaporator (CDs-LR) with synergistic salt resistance and thermal management was fabricated, which offers targeted improvements to two key issues of rotary evaporators. • CDs-LR minimizes the heat loss associated with device rotation and overcomes the limitation where rotation can only be triggered after salt accumulates to a critical mass, thereby preventing the decline in evaporation rate. • The results of the 400h evaporation experiment and the COMSOL simulation of salt ion transport confirm its outstanding salt resistance.
Cheng et al. (Fri,) studied this question.