Reliable and continuous interfacial solar evaporation system with synergetic effects of photothermal and photoluminescence for full-day desalination

Continuous steam generation is still challenging for existing solar-powered interfacial evaporation systems due to insufficient sunlight exposure in overcast day and time from late afternoon to early morning. Here, we present a novel solar-afterglow driven interfacial evaporation system that leverages the effective absorption and thermal conversion stemming from the afterglow of strontium aluminate (SAO) and photothermal effects of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes/silver/polyacrylamide (MWCNTs/Ag/PAM). In virtue of these synergetic effects, this system demonstrates an evaporation rate of 2.91 kg·m −2 ·h −1 under one sun (1 kW m −2 ) in the daytime and an enhanced evaporation capacity of 5.61 kg·m −2 under SAO-induced afterglow overnight. This innovative strategy significantly broadens the utilizing solar energy and emitted fluorescence for continuous interfacial evaporation in seawater desalination.