Solar vapor generation, which combines the abundant solar energy and unpurified water, is regarded as a promising technique for water production. However, challenges remain in terms of unsatisfactory sunlight absorbability and slow water transportation. Herein, enlightened by scales of West African Gaboon viper, an efficient sunlight absorbability and water evaporation system has been developed by biomimetic snake-scale-like porous carbon (BSPC) from the carbonization of polycarbonate (PC) waste by ZnO. ZnO catalyzes the de-carboxylation of PC to form numerous micropores that act as porogens to introduce plenty of mesopores and macropores. Owing to the 3D interconnected hierarchical nanopores and rich oxygen-containing functional groups, the as-prepared BSPC exhibits high solar absorption (ca. 95%), low thermal conductivity (0.086 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹), superhydrophilicity, and superwettability. The combined merits endow BSPC with high solar-to-thermal conversion efficiency and fast water molecule transportation, and enable BSPC to demonstrate distinguished performance in interfacial solar-driven vapor generation. For instance, BSPC displays an evaporation rate of 1.58 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ under 1 kW m⁻², conversion efficiency of 91%, and metallic ion/dye removal efficiency of over 99.99%, making it among the best carbon-based solar evaporators reported so far. This work provides a new opportunity for water purification by the fusion of bioinspired solar evaporation systems and sustainable carbon materials with well-defined microstructures.

中文翻译：

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通过可持续的仿生蛇鳞状多孔碳产生高性能的太阳蒸气

结合了丰富的太阳能和未净化水的太阳能蒸气发电被认为是有前途的水生产技术。但是，在日光吸收能力不令人满意和水传输缓慢方面仍然存在挑战。在此，受西非狒狒蛇鳞的启发，由仿生蛇鳞状多孔碳（BSPC）由ZnO对聚碳酸酯（PC）废料的碳化开发了一种有效的日光吸收能力和水蒸发系统。ZnO催化PC的脱羧反应，形成许多微孔，这些微孔作为致孔剂，可引入大量的中孔和大孔。由于该三维互连分层纳米孔和富含氧的官能团，所制备的BSPC表现出高的太阳能吸收（约95％），低导热率（0.086 W m ^-1 K ^-1），超亲水性和超润湿性。结合起来的优点使BSPC具有较高的太阳热转换效率和快速的水分子传输能力，并使BSPC在界面太阳驱动的蒸汽产生中表现出卓越的性能。例如，BSPC在1 kW m ^-2下显示出1.58 kg m ^-2 h ^-1的蒸发速率，91％的转换效率和99.99％以上的金属离子/染料去除效率，使其成为迄今为止报道的最佳碳基太阳能蒸发器之一。这项工作为生物净化的太阳能蒸发系统和具有明确定义的微结构的可持续碳材料的融合提供了水净化的新机会。