Solar-driven steam generation is anticipated as one of the most promising and inventive technologies to address the primitive issues of water shortage. Although extensive attempts have been made to develop highly efficient solar steam generators, hindrances are faced to integrate all desired functions in a single evaporating system. Herein, we designed semiconductive in situ-polymerized MnO₂ nanowires/chitosan (SPM-CH) hydrogels as flexible, built-in, vertically aligned, macropore-based water channels (∼0.5 μm pore size) for enhanced solar water generation (17.02 kg m^–2 in 1 day). The nonradiative relaxation-dependent defect engineering of SPM-CH hydrogel promotes more lattice vibrations, and its polymeric network endorses the formation of enhanced intermediate water clusters for vapor generation. The self-floating and salt-resistant device possesses an excellent evaporation rate (1.78 kg m^–2 h^–1) during a single sunny day along with efficient solar energy conversion efficiency (90.6%) under 1 sun intensity, good solar absorption (94%), and good compressing flexibility (42% compressive strain). Moreover, COMSOL Multiphysics simulations of SPM-CH hydrogels under experimental conditions reveal its superior centralized heat accumulation within the top-interface matrix. The single-step execution for a freshwater supply purified from various contaminations including industrial wastewater and oil-emulsified water shows its potential as a reusable device toward real-life applications.

中文翻译：

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半导体，柔性MnO ₂ NWs /壳聚糖水凝胶，可高效产生太阳能蒸汽

太阳能驱动的蒸汽产生有望成为解决缺水这一最原始问题的最有前途和创造性的技术之一。尽管已经进行了广泛的尝试来开发高效的太阳能蒸汽发生器，但是在将所有期望的功能集成到单个蒸发系统中时面临着障碍。本文中，我们设计了半导电的原位聚合MnO ₂纳米线/壳聚糖（SPM-CH）水凝胶作为柔性，内置，垂直排列，基于大孔的水通道（孔径约0.5μm），以增强太阳能发电量（17.02 kg） m ^–21天之内）。SPM-CH水凝胶的非辐射松弛依赖性缺陷工程促进了更多的晶格振动，其聚合物网络支持形成增强的中间水团簇以产生蒸汽。自浮式耐盐设备具有出色的蒸发速率（1.78 kg m ^–2 h ^–1）在一个阳光明媚的日子，以及在1个太阳强度下的有效太阳能转换效率（90.6％），良好的太阳能吸收（94％）和良好的压缩柔韧性（42％压缩应变）。此外，在实验条件下对SPM-CH水凝胶的COMSOL Multiphysics模拟显示出其在顶部界面基质中的出色的集中热量积聚。从包括工业废水和油乳化水在内的各种污染物中纯化出来的淡水供应的单步执行显示了其作为可重复使用的设备在现实生活中的应用潜力。