Garlic-Root-Inspired Integrated Solar-Driven Interfacial Evaporation System With Outstanding Holistic Performance

Bioinspired solar-driven interfacial evaporators exhibit outstanding performance and have broad potential for large-scale applications. Inspired by garlic root, this work designed an all-fabric-based solar-driven interfacial evaporation system (GR-SDIE). GR-SDIE employs the weft-pile weaving technology to integrate the photothermal layer and the water supply layer into a single structure. The water supply layer is woven with ramie yarns using the thread hanging method, and its quantity was optimized based on Darcy's law to precisely modulate water supply. The photothermal layer utilizes a polyethylene terephthalate nap structure to enhance solar light trapping. The optimized GR-SDIE can achieve an evaporation rate of 1.66 kg/m²/h under 1 sun with an efficiency of 92%. The quantitative analysis by the analytic hierarchy process showed that the holistic performance of GR-SDIE outperforms other fabric-based evaporators mainly due to its excellent storage convenience and environmental sustainability.