# Engineering Renewable Lignocellulosic Biomass as Sustainable Solar-Driven Interfacial Evaporators

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how renewable plant-based materials can be used to create solar-powered water evaporation systems for sustainable freshwater production.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of design and optimization strategies for solar evaporators using lignocellulosic biomass.

## Key findings

- Lignocellulosic biomass offers natural advantages for photothermal layers and hydrophilic substrates in solar evaporators.
- Biomass-based evaporators can perform multiple functions beyond desalination, such as power generation and wastewater treatment.
- Challenges remain in scaling up biomass-based solar evaporators for practical applications.

## Abstract

This review systematically summarizes solar evaporator design and optimization using renewable lignocellulosic biomass.Unique structural merits and fabrication methods for photothermal layer and hydrophilic substrate are thoroughly discussed.Multifunctional integrated applications beyond desalination are highlighted.Current challenges and future development opportunities for scalable biomass-based evaporators are outlined.

This review systematically summarizes solar evaporator design and optimization using renewable lignocellulosic biomass.

Unique structural merits and fabrication methods for photothermal layer and hydrophilic substrate are thoroughly discussed.

Multifunctional integrated applications beyond desalination are highlighted.

Current challenges and future development opportunities for scalable biomass-based evaporators are outlined.

The increasing scarcity of freshwater resources has driven the rapid emergence of solar-driven interfacial evaporators (SDIEs) as a sustainable approach to harvest fresh water by utilizing solar energy. Lignocellulosic biomass, featuring natural abundance, excellent renewability, unique natural structures, and superior biodegradability compared to the synthetic polymers, is highly attractive for constructing solar steam generators. This review aims to offer an innovative and in-depth insight into designing and optimizing high-performance integrated solar interfacial evaporators derived from renewable lignocellulosic biomass. First, the structural characteristics of lignocellulosic biomass are briefly introduced, serving as photothermal layer or supporting substrates in SDIEs. Secondly, the fabrication methods and processing technologies of lignocellulosic biomass-based evaporators are summarized from the perspective of photothermal layer and supporting substrates. Next, the most recent advances of regulation and optimization strategies are proposed to improve evaporation efficiency. Subsequently, this review summarizes the diverse functionalities of SDIEs, including desalination, power generation, wastewater treatment and antimicrobial, atmospheric water harvesting, and photocatalytic hydrogen production. Finally, the challenges in this field and outlook on the future development are discussed, which are anticipated to provide new opportunities for the advancement of lignocellulosic biomass-based SDIEs.