System with Thermal Management for Synergistic Water Production, Electricity Generation and Crop Irrigation

作者：Meng Wang, Zixiang He, Haixing Chang, Yen Wei, Shiyu Zhang, Ke Wang, Peng Xie, Rupeng Wang, Nanqi Ren, Shih‐Hsin Ho · 发表于：Nano-Micro Letters · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1007/s40820-025-01876-0 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods、Membrane Separation Technologies、Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems

Abstract Sustainable water, energy and food (WEF) supplies are the bedrock upon which human society depends. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation, combined with electricity generation and cultivation, is a promising approach to mitigate the freshwater, energy and food crises. However, the performance of solar-driven systems decreases significantly during operation due to uncontrollable weather. This study proposes an integrated water/electricity cogeneration–cultivation system with superior thermal management. The energy storage evaporator, consisting of energy storage microcapsules/hydrogel composites, is optimally designed for sustainable desalination, achieving an evaporation rate of around 1.91 kg m −2 h −1 . In the dark, heat released from the phase-change layer supported an evaporation rate of around 0.54 kg m −2 h −1 . Reverse electrodialysis harnessed the salinity-gradient energy enhanced during desalination, enabling the long-running WEC system to achieve a power output of ~0.3 W m −2 , which was almost three times higher than that of conventional seawater/surface water mixing. Additionally, an integrated crop irrigation platform utilized system drainage for real-time, on-demand wheat cultivation without secondary contaminants, facilitating seamless WEF integration. This work presents a novel approach to all-day solar water production, electricity generation and crop irrigation, offering a solution and blueprint for the sustainable development of WEF.