Solar steam generation has become a hot research topic because of its great potential to alleviate the drinking water crisis without extra energy input. Although some efforts focusing on designing spatial geometry have been made to multiply the evaporation performances of up-to-date three-dimensional evaporators, they still have some shortcomings, such as low material and space utilization efficiencies, complex spatial geometry, energy loss due to the hot solar absorption surface, and salt crystallization due to inefficient water supply. Herein, a biomimetic copper-based metal-organic framework (Cu-Cu(OH)2-MOF) foam sheet with interconnected pores and pine needle-like hierarchical structures consisting of Cu(OH)2 nanowires and MOF nanowhiskers is fabricated. The pine needle-like hierarchical structures of Cu-Cu(OH)2-MOF foam contribute to absorbing solar energy and supplying sufficient water by trapping incident light and enhancing the capillary force, respectively. Inspired by drying clothes outside under solar irradiation, through exposing one end of the Cu-Cu(OH)2-MOF foam to air, the biface evaporator achieves a subambient evaporation surface temperature and an evaporation rate of up to 3.27 kg m-2 h-1 under only one sun illumination. Furthermore, when coupled with an air flow, the biface evaporator realizes an excellent evaporation rate of 11.58 kg m-2 h-1 with an energy efficiency of 160.07% even in seawater, ensuring its great application prospect to be used in drinking water production and seawater desalination.
Keywords: bioinspired; desalination; hierarchical structure; metal−organic framework; solar steam generation.