Journal of

Materials Chemistry A
View Article Online
PAPER View Journal | View Issue

A bioinspired solar evaporator for continuous and

efficient desalination by salt dilution and secretion†
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.

Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9,

17985
Shuqian Zhang, Yang Yuan, Wang Zhang,* Fang Song, Jinghan Li, Qinglei Liu,
Jiajun Gu and Di Zhang*

Received 16th June 2021
Accepted 30th July 2021
DOI: 10.1039/d1ta05092c
rsc.li/materials-a
In recent years, solar interfacial evaporation has been one of the most promising techniques to alleviate
freshwater scarcity. However, the salt deposition on the evaporation surface limits the long-term
operation of evaporators. Herein, inspired by the salt dilution and secretion mechanisms in halophytes,
a solar evaporator with a bundle-cross-layer structured absorber and salt secretion bundles is reported.
The unique bundle-cross-layer structure realizes the salt dilution by enhancing the water storage and
transport, which enables the absorber to show a high and stable evaporation efficiency of 90.2% over
60 h in brine. More importantly, the salt secretion bundles can completely separate salt crystallization
from the absorber by a humidity-controlled salt creeping mechanism. The solar desalination prototype
equipped with this evaporator exhibited a stable water collection rate over 600 h of continuous
operation, realizing zero liquid discharge in desalination. The study provides new insights into the solar
evaporator design and advances other applications such as sea-salt extraction, wastewater treatment,
and resource recovery.

hydrogels, or bimodal pores have been employed to increase the

Introduction
Freshwater scarcity is one of the severest global challenges in
modern society.1,2 In recent years, interfacial solar steam
generation has become one of the most promising techniques
for desalination due to its high evaporation rate and effi-
ciency.3–12 However, the fast water evaporation occurs because
the solar energy is utilized to heat the thin water molecular layer
on the evaporation surface instead of the bulk water. The
thermal management applied to localize the heat at the air/
liquid interface limits the diffusion of the concentrated salt
back to the bulk water, which causes the salt deposition
problem. The precipitated salt blocks the light absorption of
evaporators and clogs the channels of water supply and vapor
escape, signicantly degrading the evaporation rate and effi-
ciency.13 Thus, it is worth investigating the solution to the salt
deposition problem.
Over the past several years, several innovative evaporators
have been reported to deal with the salt deposition problem.14–27
Several studies utilized Janus (hydrophobic/hydrophilic)
membranes or hydrophobic materials to avoid direct contact
between brine and the upper surface of evaporators, so the salt
will not accumulate at the air/liquid interface.16,21,22 Some
evaporators with alternating wick/polystyrene structures,
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and
Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R.China. E-mail:
wangzhang@sjtu.edu.cn; zhangdi@sjtu.edu.cn
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI:
10.1039/d1ta05092c
water content or enhance water transport.14,17–19 The accumu-
lated salt inside the evaporators is diluted and transferred back
to the bulk water instead of depositing on the evaporator
surface. Unfortunately, both strategies sacrice heat utilization
and decrease the evaporation rates. Devices like cup-shaped
evaporators, carbon nanotube (CNT) paper with edge crystalli-
zation, and a bioinspired 3D evaporator have been applied to
localize salt crystallization at the cup wall, the edge, or the apex
of the evaporators.15,20,23
In this work, we designed a solar evaporator which can
simultaneously maintain a high performance and solve the salt
deposition problem. Our design is inspired from a halophyte
Aegiceras corniculatum (A. corniculatum), which has evolved salt
dilution and salt secretion mechanisms to adapt to a high-salt
environment (Fig. 1).28,29 The salt glands on the leaf surface
can secrete excess salt (Fig. 1a and b). Moreover, the succulence
of the leaves increases their water storage capability and dilutes
the accumulated salt (Fig. 1b). Inspired by the two salt-
regulation mechanisms, the solar evaporator we designed,
which consists of a bundle-cross-layer (BCL) structured
absorber and salt secretion bundles, can also simultaneously
dilute and excrete salt (Fig. 1b). The stored water in the BCL-
structured absorber serves as a salt buffer to dilute the brine,
providing enough time for accumulated solute to be transferred
back to the bulk. Hence, this absorber with low thermal
conductivity delivers high and stable evaporation for long-term
operation when treating brine. More importantly, salt secretion
bundles around the absorber can continuously excrete salt by

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 | 17985

Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.
Fig. 1 Design concepts inspired from the A. corniculatum leaf. (a) A. corniculatum leaf with salt secreted on the surface. (b) Cross-sectional
schematic of the A. corniculatum leaf and bioinspired design for the solar evaporator.
a salt creeping phenomenon. Salt creeping is a common but
annoying phenomenon in which crystals deposit far from an
evaporating solution boundary, which is known to cause prob-
lems in evaporative-crystallization techniques, outdoor elec-
tronics, and civil engineering.30–35 Here, we take advantage of
the salt creeping phenomenon so that the salt crystallization
can be separated far from the absorber surface. Thus, zero
liquid discharge (ZLD), which is the ultimate target of water
treatment, is readily realized without high cost and intensive
energy consumption.36–38
Experimental
Preparation of PPy/GFF
The PPy/GFF absorber was prepared by a two-step process: the
fabrication of GFF followed by PPy coating. The pyrrole solu-
tion was prepared by dispersing 0.55 mL of pyrrole in 100 mL
of each of a series of solvents containing water and ethanol
(v/v ¼ 100 : 0, 75 : 25, 50 : 50, 25 : 75). To form the GFF, glass
ber bundles were nondirectionally crossed together with
a chemical binder. Then the GFF was immersed in the pyrrole
solution with magnetic stirring for 30 min. Next, 100 mL of
FeCl3$6H2O (iron chloride) solution (8 wt%) was added to this
precursor solution. Aer oxidation for 2 h, PPy/GFF was
washed with water several times to remove excess PPy. Finally,
PPy/GFF was dried overnight at room temperature and cut into
2  2 cm pieces using a mold. In addition, PPy/GFC and PPy/
FP were synthesized using this same procedure. These
samples were prepared for characterization and solar evapo-
ration experiments. The detailed characterization and tests are
shown in Note S1, S2.
Numerical simulation
Numerical simulation was performed using a commercial nite
element soware package COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4. The
diffusion of the water molecules is simulated by solving the
equations below:
DV2cv ¼ 0
cv ¼ fcsat
17986 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993
View Article Online
Paper
g ¼ DVcv (3)
where cv is the vapor concentration in air, D is the diffusion
coefficient, csat is the saturated vapor concentration, cv is the
relative humidity, and g is the water vapor diffusion ux. The
vapor concentration in the wet region (PPy/GFF and the salt
secretion bundles) is set to be the saturated vapor concentra-
tion, csat. The relative humidity of the environment is set to be
0.5.
According to the Maxwell–Gilliland relationship,
 1=2
1 1
4:36  105 T 3=2  þ
MA MB
D¼ 
1=3 1=3
2 (4)
P vA þ vB
Thus, the diffusion coefficient of vapor
 3=2
T
D ¼ D0  (5)
298:15
where D is the diffusion coefficient, T is the temperature, P is
the total pressure, MA and MB are the molar mass of matter A
and B, and vA and vB are the molecular volume of matter A and
B. D0 is the diffusion coefficient of vapor in air at 298.15 K.
The heat transfer is simulated by solving the equation below:
kV2T ¼ 0 (6)
where T is the temperature, and k is the heat conductivity
coefficient. The heat conductivity coefficient of air is 0.026 W
m1 K1. The environment temperature is set to 298.15 K. The
sample temperature is set according to the temperature prole
in the experiments (Fig. S32†).
All parameters D0, k, and csat are taken from the built-in
material library in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4. csat increases
with temperature T, which was taken into consideration in the
simulation (Fig. S33†). The geometry is a hemisphere with
a radius of 20 cm, much larger than the wet region. The envi-
ronmental parameters were set as the boundary conditions for
the spherical surface of the hemisphere. We used a quadratic
(1) mesh with a ner mesh near the region of salt secretion
bundles. The detailed geometry and the boundary conditions of
(2) the model are shown in Fig. S34.†
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021
 View Article Online

Paper Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Results and discussion
Fabrication and characterization of the absorber
Fig. 2a shows the fabrication process of our BCL-structured
absorber. Glass ber is applied as a skeleton material due to
its high mechanical strength, thermal insulation, excellent
wettability, and low cost.39–41 A glass ber bundle is assembled
using dozens of glass bers (15 mm in diameter), forming
plentiful capillaries for fast water delivery. These bundles are
randomly crossed and multilayered, to prepare glass ber felt
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.
cost of PPy/GFF is about $4.78 m2 (Table S1†), which is among
the lowest reported costs of evaporators.45–47 Moreover, PPy/GFF
is highly competitive for practical applications due to the
simple and low-cost fabrication method, scalable production
(Fig. 2e and f), and chemical and mechanical stability (Fig. S4
and S5†).
Efficiency and salt tolerance of PPy/GFF

The solar evaporation performance of PPy/GFF for treating pure

(GFF) with a BCL structure (Fig. 2b and movie S1†). There are
water was evaluated using a typical setup as shown in Fig. S6†
abundant gaps between the bundle layers, which increase the
(Note S4). According to the evaporation curve (Fig. 3a), the
water storage capability of the absorbers (Fig. 2c). Polypyrrole
evaporation rate and efficiency of PPy/GFF were calculated to be
(PPy) is employed as a light-absorbing material due to its
1.50 kg m2 h1 and 90.6%, respectively (Note S5), which are
broadband solar absorption, efficient photothermal conversion,
among the best values reported in recent literature
and nontoxicity, which are important for high-performance and
(Fig. S10†).4,8,9,16,19,22,43,48,49 The evaporation performance of PPy/
green water treatment.42–44 PPy-coated GFF (PPy/GFF) was
GFF was also evaluated under a light intensity of 1–7 kW m2
successfully prepared by chemical oxidation of pyrrole (Fig. S1
(Fig. 3b and c). High evaporation efficiencies of 90.6–91.9%
and S2†), followed by uniformly wrapping the glass bers with
were achieved under different sun irradiation (Note S5). The
a rough PPy coating (insets of Fig. 2d). The morphology of the
high performance is due to the combined effects of the high
PPy coating and the light absorption of PPy/GFF can be tuned
light absorption (97.4%), outstanding photothermal conversion
using the volume ratios of water to ethanol in the precursor
ability (Fig. S11 and S12†), low thermal conductivity (Fig. S13†),
solution (Fig. S3†). The grammage of the material increases
rational heat management, and fast water transport (Fig. S14†)
from 623.3  10.2 g m2 to 638.8  11.8 g m2 aer PPy coating,
of PPy/GFF. The detailed heat loss analysis is presented in Note
and thus the content of PPy in the solar evaporator is only 15.5 g
S6. The light absorption of the sample remained unchanged
m2. This is benecial to the low-cost fabrication of evapora-
before and aer evaporation (Fig. S15†) due to its chemical and
tors. PPy/GFF with the highest solar absorption (97.4%, Note S3)
mechanical stability, demonstrating its high competition for
was selected for further testing (Fig. 2d). The estimated material
practical applications.

Fig. 2 Fabrication and characterization of PPy/GFF. (a) Schematics of the fabrication process. (b) Front view image of PPy/GFF. (c) Micro-CT
image of the cross section of PPy/GFF. (d) Solar absorption spectrum of PPy/GFF. Insets show the SEM images of PPy/GFF. (e and f) Photographs
of large-sized pristine GFF and PPy/GFF, respectively.

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 | 17987
 View Article Online

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Paper

Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.

Fig. 3 Solar evaporation performance and salt tolerance. (a) Mass changes of pure water over time with PPy/GFF and pristine GFF, and without
PPy/GFF under one sun irradiation. (b) Mass changes and evaporation rates of PPy/GFF under a light intensity of 1–7 kW m2. (c) Evaporation rates
and efficiencies of PPy/GFF under a light intensity of 1–7 kW m2. (d) Mass changes and evaporation rates of PPy/GFF and PPy/GFC during the
brine treatment under one sun irradiation over 10 h. Inset: 3D microscope image of GFC. (e) Photographs of PPy/GFF and PPy/GFC during the
brine treatment under one sun irradiation over 10 h. (f) Comparison of in-plane water transport between GFF and GFC with Rhodamine B solution
(100 mg L1) for a guided view.

To examine the salt tolerance of PPy/GFF, we performed
a 10 h continuous experiment of treating 3.5 wt% NaCl solution
under one sun irradiation. The evaporation curve develops
almost linearly, and the evaporation rate shows no decline over
time (Fig. 3d). There was no salt precipitation on the surface of
PPy/GFF throughout the test (Fig. 3e). This excellent salt-
tolerant ability results from the salt-dilution effect of the
unique BCL structure. To conrm the critical role of the BCL
structure, PPy-coated glass ber cloth (PPy/GFC) with the same
composition and building block as PPy/GFF was fabricated for
comparison. In PPy/GFC, only two-layer glass ber bundles are
perpendicularly woven with each other (inset of Fig. 3d). PPy/
GFF and PPy/GFC had similar evaporation rates for pure water
(Fig. S16†). However, when treating brine, the evaporation rate
for PPy/GFC started to severely decrease aer one hour. Aer
6 h, the evaporation rate of PPy/GFC was 30.8% lower than that

17988 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021

Paper
of PPy/GFF (Fig. 3d). The evaporation degradation results from
the salt deposition on the PPy/GFC surface, which blocks light
absorption and vapor escaping channels (Fig. 3e).
PPy/GFF has a superior salt-tolerant ability to PPy/GFC due to
its BCL structure. First, PPy/GFF can store 0.79 kg m2 of water,
one order higher than that of PPy/GFC (0.043 kg m2) due to
abundant gaps between the layers in PPy/GFF. The stored water
functions as a salt buffer to dilute the salt solute transferred
from the evaporation surface. Thus, the accumulated salt solute
has enough time to be transferred back to the bulk water,
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.
keeping brine on the PPy/GFF surface unsaturated. However, in
GFC, only two-layer bundles are woven without gaps in between,
so there is no buffer for salt dilution. The salt solute was quickly
enriched on the PPy/GFC surface during the evaporation,
leading to salt deposition. Additionally, the ber bundles are
randomly crossed with diverse directions in GFF, while they are
woven into a crisscross pattern with only two directions in GFC.
The water transport in PPy/GFF is much quicker than that in
PPy/GFC (Fig. S14†), indicating a better water transport
capacity. In addition, the speed of in-plane water transport for
GFF (2 cm within 2 s) is three times faster than that for GFC
(0.5 cm within 2 s) (Fig. 3f). The fast in-plane water transport
of PPy/GFF leads to quick brine diffusion and convection in
diverse directions, which enhances the in-plane salt dilution
and avoids salt crystallization caused by an excessive concen-
tration at certain sites.
Filter paper, which has been widely applied as a typical
skeleton for solar evaporators,13,47 lacks the salt dilution
mechanism, resulting in salt deposition in PPy/FP (PPy-coated
lter paper) (Fig. S17 and S18†). Benetting from the BCL
structure, PPy/GFF exhibited long-term stability over 60 h of
continuous operation without attenuation of the evaporation
rate in treating brine (Fig. S19†). The average evaporation rate
and efficiency of PPy/GFF were calculated to be 1.47 kg h1 m2
and 90.2%, respectively, only slightly lower than that for pure
water due to the lower saturated vapor pressure.
Salt secretion and ZLD
Inspired by the salt secretion mechanism, we proposed a salt-
secretion-bundle design. In this design, 80 bundles were radi-
ally connected with the absorber with a chemical binder to
function as articial salt glands (Fig. 4a, S20 and 21†). The link
between the absorber and ber bundles is stable for further
tests and application (Fig. S22†).
The precipitation pattern evolved with time as shown in
Fig. 4a and movie S2.† This self-amplifying process of crystal
growth on the nonporous surface is called salt creeping.30–35
First, brine is transported from the absorber (PPy/GFF) to the
outer terminal of the salt secretion bundle through the efficient
capillarity between the bers in the bundle (Fig. 4b). The
evaporation rate of brine at the terminal is faster than that at
the other sites along the bundle due to the preponderance of
diffusion paths and the increased saturated vapor pressure
induced by the curved surface of the liquid.33 Therefore, crystals
initially nucleate at the brine meniscus, close to the terminal of
the bundle (Fig. 4b). Subsequently, the brine is transported
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021
View Article Online
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
through or over the porous salt aggregates by capillary action
(Fig. 4c).33 As the evaporation progresses, more salt precipitates.
The crystals gradually grow larger near the terminal (Fig. S23†)
as the process of brine transport and salt precipitation repeats.
The dispersed salt aggregates gradually connect and assemble
as a salt ring that extends outwards with time (Fig. 4a). As
illustrated in movie S3,† the advancing brine crosses the
periphery of the salt aggregates, while solution transport
simultaneously slows down. As the evaporation progresses and
salt deposits, fresh brine then oods the new salt aggregates
through the capillary action of the salt. The brine ooding and
salt precipitation alternate, forming a salt crust with a wave
shape (Fig. 4d). Furthermore, the microcomputed tomography
(micro-CT) images of the salt crust (Fig. 4e and f) show that the
salt crust of the center region (PPy/GFF) is compact and thick,
while that of the marginal region is loose and thin. The salt
crust near the center is compact because salt precipitates on the
salt walls while going through the salt crust pores, decreasing
the pore size in the aggregates. Additionally, the salt crust near
the center is thick because the brine is transported onto the top
surface of the crust and precipitates. However, numerous pores
remain within the salt crust (Fig. 4g) so that the brine is
continuously transported, and the leading edge of precipitated
salt continues to creep. This salt creeping phenomenon results
from the combined effects of evaporation, capillarity, and
crystallization.
Notably, the salt creeps outwards but hardly inwards, which
protect PPy/GFF from salt fouling and provides an effective
strategy for salt resistance. As mentioned, salt creeping is
directly related to brine evaporation, which is controlled by the
humidity in the ambient air.34 Of course, evaporation is slower
in high humidity than in low humidity. In our evaporator, the
brine in the salt secretion bundles evaporates, forming
a humidity distribution around PPy/GFF with a higher humidity
near the center than the periphery, apparently due to the denser
distribution of bundles there. Salt crystals tend to creep
outwards towards the areas with lower humidity rather than
inwards. To clarify the salt creeping mechanism, the relative
humidity of this bioinspired evaporator was simulated using
the nite element method (FEM) to solve diffusion equations.
As shown in Fig. 4h, the relative humidity of the central area
with a diameter of slightly less than 4 cm is higher than 0.95,
inhibiting evaporation, and thus salt hardly creeps inwards
(movie S2,† Fig. 4k).
To further conrm the salt creeping mechanism, 20- and 40-
bundle congurations were assembled to generate differing
humidity distributions and compared with the 80-bundle
conguration. The prole of relative humidity for the 20-bundle
conguration shows that the contour lines between any two salt
secretion bundles are arcuated towards the center, with the
overall contour lines presenting a spiderweb interior and
a circular exterior (Fig. 4j). Accordingly, salt simultaneously
crept outwards and inwards (movie S4†), although it crept more
slowly in regions with higher humidity. The salt creeping over
the 10 h evaporation period was in agreement with the simu-
lated humidity distribution (Fig. 4m). Similarly, for the 40-
bundle conguration, the experimental salt pattern (Fig. 4l and
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 | 17989
 View Article Online

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Paper

Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.

Fig. 4 Salt secretion of the bioinspired solar evaporator in the brine treatment under one sun irradiation. (a) Photographs of salt crystals that are
formed over time for an 80-bundle configuration. (b and c) Schematics of brine transport and evaporation along the bundle (b) and in the crystal
aggregates (c). Front (d) and side (e) view micro-CT images of salt aggregates after 10 h evaporation with the red arrow indicating the creeping
direction. Front view (f) and cross-sectional (g) micro-CT images of three typical locations of NaCl aggregates marked in (d). (h–j) Simulated
relative humidity profiles for 80-bundle, 40-bundle, and 20-bundle configurations, respectively. (k–m) Photographs of salt crystals for
80-bundle, 40-bundle, and 20-bundle configurations after 10 h evaporation, respectively.

17990 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021
 View Article Online

Paper Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.

Fig. 5 Solar desalination of the bioinspired solar evaporator under one sun irradiation. (a) Mass changes and evaporation rates for 80-bundle,
40-bundle, and 20-bundle configurations when treating brine. (b) Mass of evaporated water and mass of harvested salt of the 80-bundle
configuration for 10 cycles with 10 h for each. (c) Top and side views of the 80-bundle configuration when treating 3.5 wt% and 10 wt% brine for
ZLD over time. The red lines indicate the liquid level. (d) Mass of collected water for the 80-bundle configuration every 12 h when treating 3.5 wt%
artificial seawater in a closed system over 600 h. Insets: the images of the evaporator before and after the desalination. (e) Solar flux and water
collection mass per hour on a sunny day (12th June, 2021, Shanghai). (f) Temperature variations with time for the absorber surface and the bulk
water.

movie S5†) coincided with the relative humidity distribution
(Fig. 4i). The extent of inward creeping is between the 80-bundle
and 20-bundle congurations. From the experimental and
simulated results, it can be concluded that the direction of salt
creeping is controlled by the humidity distribution caused by
the brine evaporation in salt secretion bundles. In our bio-
inspired evaporator, the salt secretion bundles not only play
a role in transporting brine but also create a high-humidity
environment to protect PPy/GFF from being fouled. It is note-
worthy that for PPy/GFC with the 80-bundle design, the salt was
also excreted outwards while the PPy/GFC surface was still
gradually covered by salt aggregates (Fig. S24†). Therefore, both
salt dilution and salt secretion are essential for effective salt
resistance.
Despite the differences in salt creeping, all three congura-
tions demonstrated stable evaporation rates in the long-term

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 | 17991

Journal of Materials Chemistry A
operation due to the salt resistance achieved by salt dilution
and secretion (Fig. 5a). In the cycle test for the 80-bundle
conguration, the mass of evaporated water and harvested salt
for 10 cycles of 10 h each is plotted in Fig. 5b. The absence of
any noticeable discrepancy demonstrates the reliability of this
design. The average ratio of the salt mass to the total mass of the
salt and the evaporated water was 3.6 wt%, close to the initial
solution concentration of 3.5 wt%, indicating that the salt
secretion strategy ensures that the salt carried by the brine is
almost completely secreted on the substrate rather than on the
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.
absorber surface.
The ZLD test for treating 3.5 wt% and 10 wt% brine is
illustrated in Fig. 5c. The water completely evaporated, and the
salt was le on the substrate without any salt depositing on the
PPy/GFF surface. Thus, salt can be expediently separated from
brine and easily collected in practical applications. Our evapo-
rator achieved the ZLD goal and demonstrated an efficient and
stable performance taking advantage of the salt dilution and
salt secretion strategies (Fig. S25†).
Additionally, we applied our bioinspired evaporator in the
treatment of articial seawater in a purication solar still. The
vapor continuously condensed on the top and side of the
internal surfaces, and the condensed water was nally collected
through the discharge tube (Fig. S26†). The water collection rate
(water collection mass every 12 h) was stable over 600 h (Fig. 5d).
PPy/GFF remained clean aer long-term evaporation with the
salt excreted onto the substrate (Fig. 5d). The salt on the
substrate was readily removed and collected, realizing ZLD. The
ion concentrations of condensed water were dramatically
reduced by four orders of magnitude in comparison to the
original articial seawater (Fig. S27†), far below the lower limits
of WHO and EPA standards for drinking water.50,51 The puri-
cation effect of our evaporator was also excellent in the treat-
ment of simulated sewage with different concentrations and
lake water (Fig. S28 and S29†).
Finally, we employed a homemade solar still based on this
bioinspired evaporator to purify brine (3.5 wt%) under natural
sunlight (Fig. S30†). As shown in Fig. 5e, 124.4 mL of freshwater
was collected using the bioinspired evaporator (15  15 cm2) on
a sunny day in Shanghai (31.23 N, 121.48 E). The solar-to-water
efficiency was calculated to be 59.2% (Fig. 4c). The surface
temperature of PPy/GFF rose up to the maximum value (55  C)
at noon while the bulk water remained 35  C due to the
reduced thermal conduction loss to the bulk water (Fig. 5f).
During the outdoor experiment, the absorber surface remained
clean and the salt was secreted onto the substrate aer desali-
nation, which is similar to the indoor situation (Fig. S31†).
Conclusions
In conclusion, inspired by the salt dilution and salt secretion
mechanisms in A. corniculatum, we developed a solar evaporator
with a BCL-structured absorber assembled with salt secretion
bundles. The absorber delivered a high and stable evaporation
efficiency of 90.2% over 60 h when treating brine since its
unique BCL structure enhances the salt dilution. Moreover, the
salt secretion bundles effectively excrete salt away from the
17992 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993
View Article Online
Paper
absorber, and ZLD is easily realized due to the salt creeping
mechanism. This high-performance and salt-resistant evapo-
rator is also competitive for practical implementation, with the
benets of low-cost raw materials and a simple and scalable
fabrication strategy. Additionally, our bioinspired evaporator
can be applied not only in solar steam generation but also in
various elds such as sea salt production, wastewater treat-
ment, and resource recovery.
Author contributions
Shuqian Zhang: conceptualization, soware, validation, inves-
tigation, data curation, visualization, and writing – original
dra. Yang Yuan: validation and writing – review & editing.
Wang Zhang: conceptualization, validation, writing – review &
editing, funding acquisition, and supervision. Fang Song: vali-
dation and writing – review & editing. Jinghan Li: validation and
Writing – review & editing. Qinglei Liu: validation, funding
acquisition, and writing – review & editing. Jiajun Gu: validation
and writing – review & editing. Di Zhang: validation, funding
acquisition, and supervision.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
nancial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to inuence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Key Program for Interna-
tional S&T Cooperation Program of China (2017YFE0113000),
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51602205,
51902200 and 52072241), the Shanghai Science and Technology
Committee (18JC1410500, 19JC1410400, and 18ZR1420900), the
National Key Research and Development Program
(YS2017YFGH000385) and the Zhiyuan Honor Program of
Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
References
1 S. Chu, Y. Cui and N. Liu, Nat. Mater., 2017, 16, 16–22.
2 P. J. J. Alvarez, C. K. Chan, M. Elimelech, N. J. Halas and
D. Villagan, Nat. Nanotechnol., 2018, 13, 634–641.
3 Q. S. Jiang, L. M. Tian, K. K. Liu, S. Tadepalli, R. Raliya,
P. Biswas, R. R. Naik and S. Singamaneni, Adv. Mater.,
2016, 28, 9400–9407.
4 X. Q. Li, W. C. Xu, M. Y. Tang, L. Zhou, B. Zhu, S. N. Zhu and
J. Zhu, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2016, 113, 13953–13958.
5 G. Ni, G. Li, S. V. Boriskina, H. X. Li, W. L. Yang, T. J. Zhang
and G. Chen, Nat. Energy, 2016, 1, 16126.
6 C. J. Chen, Y. J. Li, J. W. Song, Z. Yang, Y. Kuang, E. Hitz,
C. Jia, A. Gong, F. Jiang, J. Y. Zhu, B. Yang, J. Xie and
L. B. Hu, Adv. Mater., 2017, 29, 1701756.
7 C. Jia, Y. J. Li, Z. Yang, G. Chen, Y. G. Yao, F. Jiang,
Y. D. Kuang, G. Pastel, H. Xie, B. Yang, S. Das and
L. B. Hu, Joule, 2017, 1, 588–599.
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021

Paper
8 Y. J. Li, T. T. Gao, Z. Yang, C. J. Chen, W. Luo, J. W. Song,
E. Hitz, C. Jia, Y. B. Zhou, B. Y. Liu, B. Yang and L. B. Hu,
Adv. Mater., 2017, 29, 1700981. 30
9 L. L. Zhu, M. M. Gao, C. K. N. Peh, X. Q. Wang and G. W. Ho, 31
Adv. Energy Mater., 2018, 8, 1702149.
10 B. Zhang, C. Song, C. Liu, J. Min, J. Azadmanjiri, Y. Ni, 32
R. Niu, J. Gong, Q. Zhao and T. Tang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 33
2019, 7, 22912–22923.
11 A. K. Menon, I. Haechler, S. Kaur, S. Lubner and 34
R. S. Prasher, Nat. Sustain., 2020, 3, 144–151.
Published on 30 July 2021. Downloaded by University of Cambridge on 9/1/2021 12:03:27 PM.
12 N. Liu, L. Hao, B. Zhang, R. Niu, J. Gong and T. Tang, Energy
Environ. Mater., 2021, DOI: 10.1002/eem2.12199. 35
13 C. Finnerty, L. Zhang, D. L. Sedlak, K. L. Nelson and B. X. Mi,
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2017, 51, 11701–11709. 36
14 G. Ni, S. H. Zandavi, S. M. Javid, S. V. Boriskina, T. A. Cooper
and G. Chen, Energy Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 1510–1519. 37
15 Y. Shi, C. L. Zhang, R. Y. Li, S. F. Zhuo, Y. Jin, L. Shi, S. Hong,
J. Chang, C. S. Ong and P. Wang, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2018, 38
52, 11822–11830.
16 W. C. Xu, X. Z. Hu, S. D. Zhuang, Y. X. Wang, X. Q. Li, 39
L. Zhou, S. N. Zhu and J. Zhu, Adv. Energy Mater., 2018, 8,
1702884.
17 X. Y. Zhou, F. Zhao, Y. H. Guo, Y. Zhang and G. H. Yu, Energy 40
Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 1985–1992.
18 S. He, C. Chen, Y. Kuang, R. Mi, Y. Liu, Y. Pei, W. Kong, 41
W. Gan, H. Xie, E. Hitz, C. Jia, X. Chen, A. Gong, J. Liao,
J. Li, Z. J. Ren, B. Yang, S. Das and L. Hu, Energy Environ. 42
Sci., 2019, 12, 1558–1567.
19 Y. Kuang, C. Chen, S. He, E. M. Hitz, Y. Wang, W. Gan, R. Mi 43
and L. Hu, Adv. Mater., 2019, 31, 1900498.
20 Y. Xia, Q. Hou, H. Jubaer, Y. Li, Y. Kang, S. Yuan, H. Liu, 44
M. W. Woo, L. Zhang, L. Gao, H. Wang and X. Zhang,
Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 1840–1847. 45
21 N. Xu, J. Li, Y. Wang, C. Fang, X. Li, Y. Wang, L. Zhou, B. Zhu,
Z. Wu, S. Zhu and J. Zhu, Sci. Adv., 2019, 5, eaaw7013.
22 Q. Zhang, G. Yi, Z. Fu, H. Yu, S. Chen and X. Quan, ACS Nano, 46
2019, 13, 13196–13207.
23 L. Wu, Z. Dong, Z. Cai, T. Ganapathy, N. X. Fang, C. Li, C. Yu, 47
Y. Zhang and Y. Song, Nat. Commun., 2020, 11, 521.
24 H. Li, Z. Yan, Y. Li and W. Hong, Water Res., 2020, 177, 48
115770.
25 K. Xu, C. Wang, Z. Li, S. Wu and J. Wang, Adv. Funct. Mater., 49
2021, 31, 2007855.
26 G. Liu, T. Chen, J. Xu, G. Yao, J. Xie, Y. Cheng, Z. Miao and 50
K. Wang, Cell Rep. Phys. Sci., 2021, 2, 100310.
27 Y. Zhang, T. Xiong, D. K. Nandakumar and S. C. Tan, Adv.
Sci., 2020, 7, 1903478.
28 C. D. F. Sylvia Cardale, Planta, 1970, 99, 183–191. 51
29 Y. Li, Z. Li and P. Lin, 2009 International Conference on
Environmental Science and Information Application
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021
View Article Online
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Technology, Wuhan, 2009, pp. 47–51, DOI: DOI: 10.1109/
esiat.2009.397.
E. R. Washburn, J. Phys. Chem., 1926, 31, 1246–1248.
T. H. Hazlehurst, H. C. Martin and L. Brewer, J. Phys. Chem.,
1935, 40, 439–452.
R. Hird and M. D. Bolton, Philos. Mag., 2013, 94, 78–91.
W. J. P. van Enckevort and J. H. Los, Cryst. Growth Des., 2013,
13, 1838–1848.
N. Sghaier, S. Geoffroy, M. Prat, H. Eloukabi and S. Ben
Nasrallah, Phys. Rev. E: Stat., Nonlinear, So Matter Phys.,
2014, 90, 042402.
H. S. M. J. Qazi, C. A. W. Doorman, E. Jambon-Puillet and
N. Shahidzadeh, Sci. Adv., 2019, 5, eaax1853.
T. Tong and M. Elimelech, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50,
6846–6855.
Y. Muhammad and W. Lee, Sci. Total Environ., 2019, 681,
551–563.
A. Panagopoulos, K. J. Haralambous and M. Loizidou, Sci.
Total Environ., 2019, 693, 133545.
P. Sun, R. Xue, W. Zhang, I. Zada, Q. Liu, J. Gu, H. Su,
Z. Zhang, J. Zhang and D. Zhang, Catal. Today, 2016, 274,
2–7.
S. He, W. Dong, Y. Guo, L. Guan, H. Xiao and H. Liu, Nano
Energy, 2019, 59, 745–753.
Y. Wang, S. Su, L. Cai, B. Qiu, N. Wang, J. Xiong, C. Yang,
X. Tao and Y. Chai, Adv. Energy Mater., 2019, 9, 1900037.
K. M. Au, Z. Lu, S. J. Matcher and S. P. Armes, Adv. Mater.,
2011, 23, 5792–5795.
L. Zhang, B. Tang, J. Wu, R. Li and P. Wang, Adv. Mater.,
2015, 27, 4889–4894.
X. Wang, Y. Ma, X. Sheng, Y. Wang and H. Xu, Nano Lett.,
2018, 18, 2217–2225.
Z. Liu, Z. Yang, X. Huang, C. Xuan, J. Xie, H. Fu, Q. Wu,
J. Zhang, X. Zhou and Y. Liu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5,
20044–20052.
F. H. Liu, B. Y. Zhao, W. P. Wu, H. Y. Yang, Y. S. Ning, Y. J. Lai
and R. Bradley, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2018, 28, 1803266.
W. Li, Z. Li, K. Bertelsmann and D. E. Fan, Adv. Mater., 2019,
31, 1900720.
N. Xu, X. Z. Hu, W. C. Xu, X. Q. Li, L. Zhou, S. N. Zhu and
J. Zhu, Adv. Mater., 2017, 29, 1606762.
G. Chen, J. Sun, Q. Peng, Q. Sun, G. Wang, Y. Cai, X. Gu,
Z. Shuai and B. Z. Tang, Adv. Mater., 2020, 32, 1908537.
World Health Organization (WHO), Guidelines for drinking-
water quality, 2011, https://sites.unicef.org/cholera/
Chapter_4_prevention/
01_WHO_Guidelines_for_drinking_water_quality.pdf.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2018
Edition of the Drinking Water Standards and Health
Advisories Tables, 2018, https://www.epa.gov/sites/
production/les/2018-2003/documents/dwtable2018.pdf.
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 17985–17993 | 17993