Enhanced Steam Temperature Enabled by a Simple Three-Tier Solar Evaporation Device.

Interfacial water evaporation technology by using solar energy provides one of the promising pathways for freshwater shortage management. However, current research mainly focuses on the improvement of evaporation efficiency by macro or microregulations, ignoring the steam temperature, which is a manifestation of the quality of water. Herein not only is a high-rate solar evaporation achieved but also steam temperature is enhanced by a simple three-tier (wet absorber-air gap-dry absorber) device. In a routine interfacial evaporation test, the evaporator achieves a stable evaporation rate up to 2.15 kg m h under one sun, demonstrating a competitive evaporation rate compared with other reports. With the three-tier device, the steam temperature can increase 33.7%, 41.13%, and 47% without dry absorber under one sun, two sun, and three sun illumination, respectively. At the same time, the steam temperature can be as high as 95.5 °C under three sun intensities. This work provides the possibility of using a simple three-tier device for high-temperature steam generation without extra energy input, which contributes to an idea for future research on the production high-quality water.