Highly efficient and salt resistant solar interface evaporator based on pressed wood flour with multi-level pores

Interfacial solar steam generation has garnered significant attention as an eco-friendly and sustainable technology for desalination and wastewater purification. Nevertheless, in challenging conditions such as strong brine and high-intensity settings, both the evaporation efficiency and the service life of the solar evaporator are inevitably diminished due to salt accumulation on the surface of interfacial solar evaporators. Here, a platelike evaporator that features high water evaporation rate in brine without salt accumulation is developed by rational design of polydopamine-coated wood powder with a hierarchical pore structure . This evaporator not only exhibits high water evaporation rate of 2.299 kg m −2 h −1 along with 155.4 % solar-to-steam conversion efficiency under 1 sun illumination , but also deliver exceptional salt accumulation resistance even in 20 wt% brine. With the advantages of a high light absorption rate, easy preparation process, and low cost, this evaporator shows promising potential in the field of solar steam generation and seawater desalination . • The low-cost self-floating solar evaporator exhibits exceptional light absorption performance and evaporation rate . • The evaporator was pressed from polydopamine-coated wood flour with distinctive porous surface structure. • The pre-embedding NaCl in evaporator to achieve the multi-level pore structure can ensure efficient water supply. • The evaporator exhibits highly salt resistance and long-term operation stability in strong brine conditions.