One of the greenest and promising ways to solve the problem of freshwater crisis is surface solar steam generation from seawater. A great number of photothermal materials with multi-component and multi-layered delicate yet complex structures often suffer from either low evaporation rate or high energy loss. Here, this work presents a single component foam evaporator with steam generation rate of up to 4.32 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ under 1 sun irradiation. The evaporator is constructed from an aniline oligomer as a single light-absorbing component, covalent linked with polyethylene glycol to form a monolithic polymer foam. Floating on the seawater, the foam has absorbance of 99.5% over the entire solar spectral range and low thermal conductivity (0.0077 W K⁻¹m⁻¹) that effectively retains heat in the material and at the interface. After 3 months of continuous outdoor natural sunlight irradiation, the evaporator maintains a stable and durable evaporation rate. Moreover, the materials have good mechanical properties (7.48 MPa young's modulus and 57.38% elongation at break) and excellent chemical resistance in 10 common organic solvents and aqueous solutions of pH = 1 to 14. This study provides a new system and strategy for desalination, steam power generation, treatment of polluted water and sewage, etc.

中文翻译：

---

具有更高产水效率的单组件、单层柔性泡沫蒸发器


解决淡水危机最环保、最有前途的方法之一是利用海水进行表面太阳能蒸汽发电。大量具有多组分、多层结构的光热材料往往要么蒸发速率低，要么能量损失高。在这里，这项工作提出了一种单组件泡沫蒸发器，在 1 个太阳照射下，蒸汽产生率高达 4.32 kg m ⁻² h ⁻¹ 。该蒸发器由苯胺低聚物作为单一光吸收成分构成，与聚乙二醇共价连接形成整体聚合物泡沫。该泡沫漂浮在海水上，在整个太阳光谱范围内具有 99.5% 的吸收率和低导热率 (0.0077 W K ⁻¹ m ⁻¹ )，可有效保留材料中的热量，并在界面。经过3个月的连续户外自然阳光照射，蒸发器保持稳定持久的蒸发率。此外，该材料在10种常见有机溶剂和pH = 1至14的水溶液中具有良好的机械性能（7.48 MPa杨氏模量和57.38%断裂伸长率）和优异的耐化学性。这项研究为海水淡化、蒸汽发电、污水及污水处理等。