1. State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology Shandong Academy of Sciences, Jinan 250353, China
2. Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR), University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, China
The shortage of fresh water resources is a major problem facing the world. Seawater desalination using the technology of solar-driven interfacial evaporation is a green solution developed in recent years. Evaporation rate is an important index of solar-driven interfacial evaporation. Because the intensity of natural sunlight is constant, evaporation rate is mainly limited by the latent heat of water evaporation. Solar evaporator is the core component of solar interfacial evaporation system. Reducing the latent heat of water evaporation through the chemical groups and physical structure modulations of solar evaporator materials turns into an important way to improve the solar interfacial evaporation rate. In this review, the technology of solar-driven interfacial evaporation and the knowledge of solar evaporator were briefly introduced firstly. And then, solar evaporators which can reduce the latent heat of water evaporation were presented in detail. In addition, the mechanism of reducing the latent heat of water evaporation with solar evaporators was analyzed and summarized. The prospect and future challenges of solar evaporators with the ability of reducing latent heat were discussed finally, so as to provide reference for the followup research and development of solar evaporators with the ability of reducing latent heat, and further enhance the competitiveness of solar-driven interfacial evaporation in the field of seawater desalination.