Highly efficient and salt resistant solar interface evaporator based on pressed wood flour with multi-level pores

Interfacial solar steam generation has garnered significant attention as an eco-friendly and sustainable technology for desalination and wastewater purification. Nevertheless, in challenging conditions such as strong brine and high-intensity settings, both the evaporation efficiency and the service life of the solar evaporator are inevitably diminished due to salt accumulation on the surface of interfacial solar evaporators. Here, a platelike evaporator that features high water evaporation rate in brine without salt accumulation is developed by rational design of polydopamine-coated wood powder with a hierarchical pore structure. This evaporator not only exhibits high water evaporation rate of 2.299 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ along with 155.4 % solar-to-steam conversion efficiency under 1 sun illumination, but also deliver exceptional salt accumulation resistance even in 20 wt% brine. With the advantages of a high light absorption rate, easy preparation process, and low cost, this evaporator shows promising potential in the field of solar steam generation and seawater desalination.