An Integrated All‐Solar‐Powered Evaporator‐Electrolyzer Coupled System Through Interfacial Hydrogen‐Bond Network Modulation for Freshwater and Green Hydrogen Co‐Production
He Zhang, Li Yuan, Lie Zou, Jun Xia, Yangzheng Bao, Yuping Du, Wen Tian, Junyi JiABSTRACT
Distributed solar‐driven interfacial evaporation coupled with water electrolysis offers a sustainable route to simultaneously address water scarcity and energy crises. However, reliable integrated system design and disruption of high‐energy barrier imposed by strong hydrogen bonds remain key challenges. To solve these problems, an integrated solar‐driven coupling system was designed based on the unified TiN/TiO 2 (N‐TiO 2 ) platform, while two separate modules were developed based on photothermal Ag 2 @N‐TiO 2 evaporator and Ni 4 Co 1 @N‐TiO 2 electrocatalyst, achieving synchronous production and adjustment of freshwater and green hydrogen according to the target application scenario. Using active N‐TiO 2 sites for water molecule adsorption and activation, Ag 2 @N‐TiO 2 and Ni 4 Co 1 @N‐TiO 2 heterostructures can break hydrogen bonding networks and weaken H‐O‐H bonds through strong interfacial interactions. Notably, quasi‐in situ Raman captures the release of low‐barrier “weakly hydrogen‐bonded water” from Ag 2 @N‐TiO 2 interface, which reduces the vaporization latent heat for effective evaporation. Meanwhile, the Ni 4 Co 1 @N‐TiO 2 interface promotes the release of active hydrogen (H * ) to accelerate the Volmer step, thereby optimizing the hydrogen production kinetics. The integrated device achieves a high evaporation rate of 2.425 kg m −2 h −1 under 1 kW m −2 and a low HER overpotential of 113 mV at 100 mA cm −2 , which offers a reliable strategy for sustainable seawater desalination and green hydrogen co‐production.