A Current‐Adaptive Evaporator with Optimized Energy Utilization for Self‐Cleaning High‐Salinity Desalination
Ruicheng Zhang, Wenqing Zhang, Haipeng Ren, Keshuai Liu, Shichang Yang, Bin Chen, Wei Li, Can Ge, Duo Xu, Weilin Xu
Abstract
Abstract Solar steam generation (SSG) shows great potential in brine desalination to address the global water crisis. However, the salt accumulation has become a severe bottleneck that destroys devices and weakens efficiencies. Traditional evaporators are difficult to simultaneously realize clean salt‐rejection and efficient operation during high‐salinity desalination. In this work, a weaved cylinder evaporator with both efficient static and dynamic energy utilization is fabricated for self‐cleaning high‐salinity desalination. The energy utilization performance is optimized through a balanced water supply, omnidirectional solar absorption, infiltration content regulation, and dynamic current adaptation. Hence, an outstanding SSG rate of 1.91 kg·m −2 ·h −1 is achieved under 1 sun radiation. The dynamic self‐cleaning characteristics ensure competitive and durable high‐salinity desalination (≈11 kg·m −2 ·day −1 ) during weekly practical operation without salt deposition. Overall, the design overcomes the trade‐off between desired mass transfer and undesired heat loss.