Biomass-derived interfacial solar evaporators have been widely investigated for desalination and brine treatment, yet their performance is still frequently benchmarked by feed-side water loss in short open-system tests. Such measurements capture the initial evaporation response but do not fully represent desalination performance, which additionally requires vapor recovery, condensate purity, salt placement, and structural stability under repeated wetting, heating, and salinization. This review examines biomass-based interfacial solar evaporation by treating biomass as a structure-bearing precursor rather than a generic renewable absorber. Biomass utilization is classified into directly inherited natural architectures, biomass-derived photothermal materials, reconstructed hydrogel and aerogel networks, biomass-based composites, and bioinspired analogues retained for mechanistic comparison. The discussion connects precursor architecture and conversion route with interfacial water supply, heat localization, vapor release, salt redistribution, and condenser-coupled water recovery. Device-level evaluation is defined here as the combined assessment of recovered freshwater yield, condensate quality, salt accumulation location, long-term wet-saline stability, post-operation structural integrity, and module-condenser compatibility. Across seawater desalination, hypersaline brine concentration, and saline wastewater recovery, distinct validation boundaries are required because salinity, scaling, fouling, volatile carryover, and concentrate handling impose different failure modes. Future studies should progress beyond peak evaporation rate and nominal solar-to-vapor efficiency toward standardized condenser-coupled testing, progressive-concentration operation, real-feed condensate analysis, wet-thermal mechanical durability, fabrication burden assessment, and module-scale reliability evaluation.

The escalating contamination of seawater with radioactive cesium ions (Cs+) poses severe environmental and health challenges, requiring remediation strategies that are both efficient and sustainable. However, current approaches often suffer from limited selectivity, low adsorption capacity, and poor adaptability in complex ionic environments. Herein, a multifunctional Li+ - intercalated vermiculite-based photothermal aerogel evaporator is designed to synergistically couple interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) with highly selective Cs+ capture. Solardriven interfacial evaporation increases the local chemical potential of hydrated ions, while the negatively charged vermiculite nanochannels electrostatically facilitate Cs+ desolvation and intercalation, enabling active ion pumping instead of passive adsorption. Consequently, the Li-V@CNTs aerogel exhibits an excellent evaporation rate of 3.33 kg.m(-2).h(-1) under 1 sun illumination, exceeding typical cellulose or graphene oxide systems (approximate to 2.2-2.8 kg.m(-2).h(-1)). As a Cs+ sorbent, it achieves capacities up to 450 mg.g(-1) in Cs+-spiked seawater, outperforming zeolite A (approximate to 51 mg.g(-1)) and representative Zn-based metal-organic frameworks (approximate to 221 mg.g(-1)). Integrated into a sunflower-inspired solar-tracking device, the aerogel evaporator delivers clean-water yield and Cs+ removal from real seawater. Fabricated from vermiculite and bacterial cellulose via a simple, lowtemperature process (estimated material cost approximate to US$1.5 m(-2)) and operated solely by solar energy without secondary pollution, this ion-pumping platform offers a scalable platform with strong potential for sustainable radioactive seawater remediation.

Solar-driven photothermal evaporation has emerged as a low-carbon, energy-efficient approach for environmental remediation, but its application to volatile organic contaminants in soils remains challenged by rapid volatilization and limited mass transfer within soil matrices. Here, we present a biochar-supported NiO/TiO₂/polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin evaporator (BNT-H) that integrates evaporation-driven extraction with interfacial catalytic degradation for in situ phenol removal from soil. Under 1 kW m⁻² irradiation, BNT-H achieved an evaporation rate of 2.45 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. By controlling light intensity in a closed system, phenol was continuously transported to the photocatalytically active interface, where it was catalytically degraded. Volatile compounds not fully degraded were condensed and returned to the soil, re-entering the evaporation-catalysis cycle. This closed-loop process of evaporation, condensation, and reprocessing effectively minimized uncontrolled VOC emissions. Outdoor experiments demonstrated that the BNT-H system removed over 99% of phenol from soil with an initial concentration of 17.0 mg kg⁻¹ within seven days. Wheat germination in the remediated soil reached 97%, indicating substantial alleviation of phenol-induced phytotoxicity. Overall, this work presents a low-carbon strategy that shows potential for scale-up in VOC-contaminated soil remediation and provides mechanistic insights into coupling photothermal evaporation with interfacial catalysis for pollutant control.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is promising for freshwater production but constrained by solar intermittency. Herein, a 3D hierarchical phase-change composite evaporator (PPMF@OD) is constructed via a hydrogel-assisted in situ anchoring strategy for round-the-clock desalination. At the molecular scale, hydrogel polar functional groups elevate intermediate water proportions, drastically reducing the vaporization enthalpy to 1871 J·g−1. Macroscopically, an optimized 3D geometry synergizes with the embedded phase-change microcapsules to deliver exceptional spatiotemporal energy management. During illumination, endothermic microcapsule melting suppresses top-surface heat dissipation, synergizing with macroscopic sidewall environmental heat absorption to surpass theoretical evaporation limits. Conversely, in the dark, latent heat released by crystallization couples with continuous environmental energy harvesting to sustain steam generation. Benefiting from this synergy of macroscopic environmental heat harvesting and microscopic thermal energy storage and release, PPMF@OD achieves 4.89 kg·m−2·h−1 under 1 sun and 2.36 kg·m−2·h−1 in the dark. Moreover, outstanding long-term crystallization resistance can be achieved even in an extreme 20 wt% high-salinity medium. Under outdoor cloudy weather conditions, the system yields an outstanding daily water production of 27.37 kg·m−2. This establishes a scalable, multiphysics-coupled paradigm for all-weather desalination.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is promising for freshwater production but constrained by solar intermittency. Herein, a 3D hierarchical phase-change composite evaporator (PPMF@OD) is constructed via a hydrogel-assisted in situ anchoring strategy for round-the-clock desalination. At the molecular scale, hydrogel polar functional groups elevate intermediate water proportions, drastically reducing the vaporization enthalpy to 1871 J·g-1. Macroscopically, an optimized 3D geometry synergizes with the embedded phase-change microcapsules to deliver exceptional spatiotemporal energy management. During illumination, endothermic microcapsule melting suppresses top-surface heat dissipation, synergizing with macroscopic sidewall environmental heat absorption to surpass theoretical evaporation limits. Conversely, in the dark, latent heat released by crystallization couples with continuous environmental energy harvesting to sustain steam generation. Benefiting from this synergy of macroscopic environmental heat harvesting and microscopic thermal energy storage and release, PPMF@OD achieves 4.89 kg·m-2·h-1 under 1 sun and 2.36 kg·m-2·h-1 in the dark. Moreover, outstanding long-term crystallization resistance can be achieved even in an extreme 20 wt.% high-salinity medium. Under realistic outdoor conditions, the system yields an outstanding daily water production of 27.37 kg·m-2. This establishes a scalable, multiphysics-coupled paradigm for all-weather desalination.

The pursuit of a low-carbon future hinges on both efficient energy conversion and sustainable resource management. Photovoltaic (PV) systems suffer from significant efficiency losses due to heat accumulation, while the increasing scarcity of freshwater and the necessity of recovering critical elements such as boron highlight the urgent demand for advanced desalination and resource-recovery technologies. Here, we report a multifunctional composite gel-based interfacial evaporation system (C/M-SA) that simultaneously enables PV cooling, freshwater generation, and boron extraction. The bilayer structure integrates a photothermal carbon top layer with a MgO-modified hydrogel bottom layer, achieving broadband solar absorption (97 %) and efficient boron capture through surface hydroxyl groups. Under one-sun illumination, C/M-SA delivers a high evaporation rate of 1.84 kg m(-2) h(-1) with 85.1 % efficiency, reducing PV panel surface temperature by up to 21.5 degrees C outdoors and boosting power output by nearly 10 %. Meanwhile, the condensed water meets WHO and EPA drinking standards, and boron adsorption exceeds 90 % with good recyclability. Furthermore, the extracted boron effectively promotes plant growth, highlighting its agricultural potential. This work presents a scalable and eco-friendly strategy that connects renewable energy generation with clean water production and critical element recovery, offering new opportunities for integrated energy-water-resource management.

Integrating photocatalytic decontamination with solar interfacial evaporation (SIE) offers a sustainable solution for the water-energy-environment nexus, yet high efficiency is hindered by trade-offs between thermal localization-induced charge carrier recombination and evaporation-driven solute accumulation. Here, the intermediate water-mediated strategy resolves these thermodynamic and kinetic conflicts by employing a layered porous double-network hydrogel (PCF) embedded with NH2-MIL-101 (Fe)/graphene oxide (GO). The oxygenrich polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and carbonylated cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) skeleton reconstructs the hydrogenbonding network within confined domains, yielding a high intermediate-to-free water ratio (1.295). This distinct water state functions dualistically: thermodynamically, it substantially reduces the equivalent vaporization enthalpy to 869.3 J g- 1. Kinetically, it serves as a pre-activated reactant that lowers the energy barrier for hydroxyl radical (& sdot;OH) generation over the NH2-MIL-101(Fe)/GO active sites. Consequently, the evaporation rate of PCF is 3.29 kg m- 2 h- 1 under one sunlight, and the degradation efficiency of PCF for broad-spectrum organic pollutants (RHB, MB, TC) is more than 90%. Furthermore, its vasculature-mimicking architecture ensures rapid salt backflow, achieving zero salt crystallization in 5 wt% brine during long-term operation. This study highlights water state regulation in bridging photothermal and photocatalytic processes, providing a paradigm for designing multifunctional materials for complex wastewater treatment.

Excellent CO2 adsorption ability and fast photogenerated carriers' supply are vital conditions for efficient CO2 photoreduction. In this paper, Au localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has been successfully applied in a R-CeO2/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for CO2 photoreduction. R-CeO2/Au/g-C3N4 (CAC-2) exhibited excellent CO2 photoreduction performance and great stability. The CO yield over CAC-2 is about 50.58 µmol·g-1·h-1 under UV-vis light irradiation, which is about 6.7 and 6.0 times higher than that of R-CeO2 and g-C3N4, respectively. FDTD simulation, DFT calculation and photoelectrochemical tests together prove the introduction of Au NPs not only enhances the photogenerated carriers' separation efficiency, but also decreases the formation energy barrier of the important intermediate *COOH, which is beneficial for the CO2 photoreduction to CO. N2/CO2 adsorption-desorption curves indicated that the CAC-2 ternary composite had the largest specific surface area and the best CO2 adsorption capacity. Meanwhile, DFT calculation confirmed that the reduction sites of the CAC-2 had the highest electron density, which can synergistically enhance the CO2 photoreduction activity. The improvement of photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the synergistic enhancement of Au LSPR effect and S-scheme heterojunction at the interface. Based on the in situ FTIR, in situ ESR, and 13C isotope tracer experiment, a potential LSPR effect-enhanced S-scheme heterojunction catalytic mechanism has been provided, which may represent a significant advancement in the field.

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction represents a sustainable pathway for solar fuel production, yet its practical efficiency is hindered by sluggish multi-electron transfer kinetics, inefficient interfacial delivery of reactants, and rapid charge recombination. Traditional catalyst systems often fail to simultaneously ensure effective charge separation and maintain a conducive local microenvironment for the activation of both CO2 and H2O, thereby limiting hydrocarbon product generation. Herein, we report a multifunctional aerogel system (CN-10) that constructs a dynamic vapor-catalysis interface by integrating interfacial solar evaporation with selective photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Under 5 SUN illumination, the CN-10 achieves a high CH4 selectivity of 75 % with a total CO + CH4 yield of 150 mu mol & sdot;g-1 & sdot;h-1 and a water vapor rate of 5.9 kg & sdot;m-2 & sdot;h-1. Field tests under natural sunlight further confirm the robustness of the vapor-catalysis coupling strategy in realistic conditions. This work establishes a dynamic vapor-catalysis coupling strategy for solar-to-fuel conversion, offering broad potential for vapor-phase catalytic reactions beyond CO2 reduction.

The rational integration of photothermal and photocatalytic functionalities into a single material platform offers a promising strategy to simultaneously tackle the dual challenges of clean freshwater scarcity and carbon dioxide reduction. Herein, we report a hierarchically engineered carbon nanofiber-based composite (PCAL-450), featuring CoO/Al2O3 nanosheet decoration, that achieves synergistic solar interfacial water evaporation and photocatalytic CO2 conversion. The composite exhibits a robust porous architecture with abundant active site, broadband light absorption, and efficient thermal conductivity. Upon polyacrylamide hydrogel modification, the CNF@CA-disc exhibits superhydrophilicity, excellent salt resistance, and remarkable long-term operational stability, achieving a high evaporation rate of 1.73 kg center dot m-2 center dot h-1 under 1 sun and effective desalination even at 15 wt% salinity. Simultaneously, the carbon nanofibers boost local photothermal heating and reaction kinetics, while the CoO/Al2O3 nanosheets facilitate charge separation and electron transfer. This synergistic effect results in significantly improved photocatalytic CO2 reduction with CH4 and CO production rates of 7.01 and 20.18 mu mol center dot g-1 center dot h-1, respectively. This work presents a scalable, dual-functional nanoplatform that couples photo-thermal evaporation with catalytic nanointerface design, offering an efficient and durable solution for integrated clean water generation and solar-to-fuel conversion.

Customizing the frequency range of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbing materials, especially for low-frequency, is a key research focus for 5G/6G and stealth applications. However, achieving precise low-frequency tuning remains challenging due to unpredictable parameter variations in practical design. Here, a constant-permeability-based electromagnetic parameter inversion method predicts the required complex permittivity range for multilayer MXene's effective microwave absorption in the target low-frequency band. Since traditional modulation methods are plagued by electromagnetic parameter fluctuations, this study regulated the dielectric response by adjusting the embedding amount of small-sized iron nanoparticles (Fe NPs) with stable permeability. Under this guidance, multilayer MXene/Fe NPs (MTF) are prepared by embedding small-sized Fe NPs on the MXene surface via electrostatic self-assembly and in-situ reduction. The introduction of Fe NPs increased charge carriers' concentration and strengthened the interface effect, resulting in a significant increase in the real part of the complex permittivity (epsilon') compared with that of multi-layer MXene (7.13-8.89), reaching the predicted range of the real part of the low-frequency complex permittivity (13.12-15.16, 14.34-16.81, and 15.29-18.12). Experimental results show that the MTF has a small error in the frequency of the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) compared to the predicted value (error percentage of 4.69%), along with an in-situ enhancement of the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) (325.00% growth). Thus, MTF exhibits enhanced low-frequency absorption, with MTF-2 achieving-46.3 dB RLmin at 4.64 GHz (4.35 mm) and 2.24 GHz EAB at 3.8 mm. This work offers a strategy for accurate prediction and regulation of absorption bands over a wide range.

Achieving efficient and selective solar-driven CO2 reduction remains a grand challenge due to sluggish proton-electron transfer kinetics and limited reactant availability at catalytic interfaces. Herein, we present a hierarchically structured aerogel integrating triazine-based covalent organic frameworks (TCOF) with Nb2CTx MXene nanosheets embedded in a poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate (PVA/SA) matrix. The aerogel leverages broadband light harvesting, hierarchical water regulation, and localized photothermal activation to enhance multielectron CO2 conversion. The hydrophilic-hydrophobic PVA/SA scaffold promotes rapid water uptake and vapor-phase transport, while Nb2CTx enables efficient near-infrared-induced heating to establish a proton-rich interfacial microenvironment. Simultaneously, the porous TCOF network offers abundant CO2 adsorption and activation sites. This synergistic architecture facilitates stable proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) pathways and C-C coupling. In situ spectroscopic analyses reveal enhanced formation and stabilization of *COOH, *CH3, and *OCCHO intermediates under photothermal conditions, evidencing facilitated C-C coupling for C2 product generation. Under 3-sun irradiation for 3 h, the optimized TCOF/Nb2CTx aerogel delivers exceptional yields of 119.3 μmol·g-1 CH4 and 94.9 μmol·g-1 C2H4, which is 2-fold higher than powder analogues and surpassing previous COF/MXene systems. This work demonstrates a generalizable strategy to engineer carbohydrate polymer-based aerogels with integrated light-to-heat conversion, vapor regulation, and catalytic site accessibility for efficient solar-to-chemical fuel generation.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) to multicarbon (C2) products provides a compelling pathway for carbon recycling and sustainable energy storage, yet achieving high C2 selectivity remains a major challenge due to kinetic preference for C1 products and the intrinsic difficulty of C-C bond formation. While bimetallic alloys are widely used to tune catalytic performance, their typically random atomic arrangements hinder precise control over active site electronic environments, leading to suboptimal C1/C2 selectivity. Herein, we present a composition-dependent phase engineering strategy to synthesize ordered Au1Cu1 intermetallic alloy, alongside disordered Au3Cu1 and Au1Cu3 alloys, via a polymer nanofiber-mediated approach. The long-range atomic ordering in Au1Cu1 enables an optimized d-band center, critically balancing intermediate binding (e.g., *CO at -1.09 eV) for efficient C-C coupling over C1 formation. This resulted in the Au1Cu1/CNFs catalyst reaching a peak Faradaic efficiency of 55.6% toward C2 products at -0.5 V vs RHE. In situ characterizations and theoretical calculations confirm that its specific electronic and geometric configurations facilitate the lowest energy barrier for *CHO-*CO coupling. This work demonstrates precise atomic-level control in bimetallic alloy ordering, guiding the CO2RR toward valuable multicarbon products.

Organic photocatalysts generally suffer from insufficient near‐infrared light absorption and undesirable photogenerated charge transport properties, resulting in unfavorable hydrogen evolution performance from water splitting. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is also known to be significantly influenced by the interfacial charge and mass transfer in a catalyst/H 2 O biphase system. Herein, for the first time, a highly stable and floating hydrogen‐water cogeneration hybrid hydrogel that utilizes photothermal‐induced interface microenvironment variation to accelerate sluggish photocatalytic water splitting reaction is reported. Supported by solar‐powered interfacial evaporation and efficient vapor generation, the rationally designed hydrogel effectively transforms the conventional liquid‐solid interface into a gas‐solid photocatalytic interface. The presence of gas‐liquid coexistence state offers a disordered and loose hydrogen‐bond network while preserving the proton transfer channel, greatly reducing reaction activation energy and interfacial energy barriers. The improved heat and mass transfer together with optimized charge transfer pathways suppress electron‐hole recombination, the integrated photothermal‐coupled solar photocatalytic hydrogel exhibits excellent operational stability and self‐adaptive rotation in seawater, mitigating salt accumulation and achieving an exceptional vapor generation rate of 4.71 kg m −2 h −1 and a hydrogen‐evolving rate of 1961.25 µmol g −1 h −1 under one sun illumination.

Interfacial solar evaporation offers a green and sustainable solution to solve clean water shortages via solar-driven desalination. However, salt crystallization and accumulation on solar evaporators have become the primary hindrances to the long-term practical application of interfacial solar evaporation technology. To tackle this challenge, a photothermal evaporator with a novel parallel two-water paths strategy is developed in this study. Unlike the conventional one-way water path, which generally leads to salt accumulation at the water supply end on the evaporation surfaces, thereby limiting the lifespan of the evaporator and compromising solar evaporation performance, here, with the second parallel water supply path, the ion diffusion and distribution within the solar evaporator is reconfigured and optimized. No salt accumulation occurs on either the evaporation surfaces or the water paths, eliminating the impact of salt crystallization on evaporation performance and enabling convenient salt collection. A high and stable evaporation rate of 3.09-3.26 kg m-2 h-1 is recorded over 84 h continuous evaporation of NaCl solution (3.5 wt.%) without salt accumulation on the evaporator, making it an ideal strategy for zero liquid discharge solar evaporation.

Deformation and cracking caused by internal stress have been a long-standing challenge in the field of metal additive manufacturing. This paper presents a novel method for real-time stress assessment of laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) based on the shrinkage phenomenon of deposition layer – the Dynamic Contour Method (DCM). It integrates machine vision, three-dimensional reconstruction based on actual morphology, and numerical simulation to calculate rapidly stress development during the LDED process. Meanwhile, a mapping relationship between the surface shrinkage of the deposition layer and stress is established, providing a theoretical basis for the DCM. Regarding the validation of this method, the DCM simulations are compared with the experimentally calibrated thermo-mechanical coupling simulations. The results show a high degree of consistency, demonstrating the feasibility and accuracy of the DCM. This method provides a new digital twin framework for additive manufacturing.

Water and energy scarcity present significant global challenges in arid and remote regions, therefore, it is imperative to develop a sustainable approach that harnesses atmospheric moisture and sunlight to generate both water and energy. A portable system was presented, which directly harvests water from atmospheric moisture and generates energy using cellulose aerogels–high-entropy perovskite La(Cr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2)O3–lithium chloride (CA–LB5O3–LiCl). The system captures water from moist air during the night and facilitates solar-driven water evaporation and electrocatalytic water splitting during the day. The CA integrated with LiCl achieves efficient moisture absorption even in arid conditions due to its combined hydrophilic structure and entrapped water. The high-entropy perovskite LB5O3 promotes the lattice oxygen mechanism by weakening the metal–oxygen bond, resulting in an overpotential of 290 mV at 10 mA·cm−2. Furthermore, its excellent solar absorption and photothermal conversion enhance water uptake to 1.01 g·g−1 at 60

Nanostructured high‐entropy alloys (nHEAs) are a prominent subclass of high‐entropy materials (HEMs). They exhibit a high specific surface area and vast morphological space enabled by their nanoscale dimensions, making them highly promising catalytic materials. Despite these merits, the nanostructure also introduces additional structural complexities and increases reconstruction during catalysis, which pose major challenges to their rational design. In this review, this inherent duality of nHEAs in catalysis is highlighted, and a comprehensive overview of recent advances aimed at addressing their structural complexities is provided. It is begun by elucidating the origins of these complexities, which mainly arise from the nearly infinite compositional possibilities, diverse atomic stacking configurations, and the intricate structures at the (sub)nanometer scale. Then, state‐of‐the‐art tools and methods are presented for managing these complexities and accelerating the discovery of next‐generation nHEAs catalysts, including high‐throughput synthesis and screening, first‐principle calculations, and machine learning. More importantly, emerging design principles are summarized that move beyond simple, trial‐and‐error compositional and configurational tuning, toward holistic and systematically integrated design strategies. This review delves into the intricate complexities of nHEAs and their corresponding strategies, aiming to provide valuable insights for their rational design in a variety of chemical transformations.

The electrochemical reduction of nitrogenous waste to high-value hydroxylamine (NH2OH) represents a promising avenue for both chemical synthesis and environmental remediation. However, developing highly selective and efficient electrocatalysts is crucial for stabilizing NH2OH intermediates and preventing over-reduction to ammonia. Herein, we report an atomic-scale engineering strategy for fabrication of Sn single atom (SAs) cooperated with neighboring Sn atomic clusters (ACs) supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (Sn ACSAs/NCNFs). The Sn SAs, acting as the metal center with a distinctive Sn-N3 coordination environment, are synergistically enhanced by neighboring Sn ACs. The resulting Sn SA-AC sites demonstrate state-of-the-art NH2OH selectivity from nitrite electroreduction under CO2-saturated KHCO3 solution (FENH2OH: 97 %), significantly outperforming the selectivity of Sn SAs alone (FENH2OH: 64.26 %). In situ characterizations and theoretical simulations reveal that the bridge adsorption configuration of NO2 - on Sn SA-AC sites enables NH2OH formation with a lower adsorption energy of -2.02 eV, compared to the linear adsorption of NO on Sn SA sites (-1.37 eV). Upon reaching the stage of hydroxylamine formation, the co-adsorption of NH2OH intermediates on Sn SA-AC sites weakens their binding strength, thereby preventing the over-reduction into NH3. This approach offers a promising pathway for the sustainable and efficient production of NH2OH.