Sustainable solar water purification: Exploring the structural advantages of higher plants

Solar vapor generation is a promising technique for water purification, although the development of efficient and sustainable systems for practical use remains challenging. Here, we introduce a higher plant-derived evaporator, leveraging the structural advantages of plants and the synergistic integration of multiple components, including carbon black-coated ultrathin wood slices with perforated pores, nanocellulose aerogel, and vertically aligned wheat straws. This configuration facilitates low-tortuosity water transport within the internal framework while promoting interfacial evaporation at its surface. Under 1 sun, the evaporator achieved an evaporation rate of up to 3.2 kilograms per square meter (kg m^-2) per hour. The material's scalability and the capability to continuously collect clean water in outdoor environments were successfully demonstrated. Outdoors, under a solar intensity of 0.5 to 0.9 sun, the assembled device achieved a daily fresh water yield of up to 10.9 kg m^-2 from seawater. With highly accessible renewable raw materials, low production cost, and exceptional water purification efficiency, this cost-effective solar evaporator is edge closer to viable, real-world applications.