Capillary-Regulated Carbonized Lotus Stem for Efficient Solar-Driven Water Evaporation and Purification

Freshwater shortages have attracted increasing global concern. Solar-driven evaporation from wastewater or seawater has emerged as a promising technology to collect fresh water; however, achieving high-evaporation efficiency remains a significant challenge. Here, we propose a capillary-regulated solar evaporator, CHALS, derived from agricultural waste—specifically, lotus stems. CHALS is constructed by the carbonization and hydrophilization of a compressed assembly of lotus stems. The compression, followed by carbonization, narrows the straight capillary channels; subsequent oxygen plasma treatment optimizes surface hydrophilicity. The two synergistic effects jointly elevate the Laplace capillary driving force to greatly accelerate internal water transportation. Meanwhile, the straight-through channels provide the shortest pathway for water transportation. Moreover, the efficient photothermal conversion raises the surface temperature of CHALS up to 65 °C. Benefiting from these synergistic effects, CHALS achieves an evaporation rate of 2.60 kg·m−2·h−1 under 1 sun irradiation. The work not only provides an agricultural waste-derived solar evaporator but also establishes a capillary-regulation strategy to boost solar evaporation efficiency.