Progress in the research and application of light-absorbing nanostructured materials in solar-driven water evaporation

Abstract Solar-powered interfacial evaporation technology, owing to its high efficiency and low-carbon advantages, has become a research hotspot. This paper comprehensively sums up the progress in the research of carbon-based, plasmonic, and inorganic semiconductor photothermal materials for solar-driven water evaporation. Carbon-based materials, such as vertical carbon nanotube arrays and graphene aerogels, leverage π – π * transitions and phonon scattering to attain an ultra-broad photonic absorption of over 99.9% across the 0.4–20 μ m spectrum. Plasmonic materials like Au/Al nano-structures harness localized surface plasmon resonance to intensify near-field thermal effects at specific wavelengths. Inorganic semiconductor materials such as TiN, CuS, and MXene are optimizing their photothermal conversion efficiency through band-gap engineering and non-radiative carrier relaxation. Structural light-absorption designs have significantly lifted the photonic absorption rate to above 98%, while also ensuring water transport and thermal localization, with evaporation rates reaching 4.02 kg · m −2 · h −1 . But there are still challenges to overcome, including material durability in complex aqueous environments, scalable cost, and the theoretical upper limit of photothermal efficiency. In the future, it will be necessary to combine super-material and artificial-intelligence technologies to develop new-type light-absorbing materials that are efficient, weather-resistant, and low-cost. This will drive the large-scale application of this technology in areas like seawater desalination and industrial wastewater treatment.