Water scarcity has become a global challenge attributed to climate change, deforestation, population growth, and increasing water demand. While advanced water production plants are prevalent in urban areas, remote islands and sparsely populated regions face significant obstacles in establishing such technologies. Consequently, there is an urgent need for efficient, affordable, and sustainable water production technologies in these areas. Herein, we present a facile approach utilizing an ultrashort-pulsed laser to directly convert cotton fabric into graphene under ambient conditions. The resulting laser-induced graphene (LIG) demonstrates the highest light absorption efficiency of 99.0% and a broad absorption range (250–2500 nm). As an excellent solar absorber, LIG on cotton fabric can efficiently absorb 98.6% of the total solar irradiance and its surface temperature can reach 84.5 °C under sunlight without optical concentration. Moreover, we propose a cost-effective 3D LIG evaporator (LIGE) for continuous solar-powered desalination. This innovative design effectively mitigates salt formation issues and enhances the steam generation efficiency. The water evaporation rate and the solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency are measured to be around 1.709 kg m^–2 h^–1 and 95.1%, respectively, which surpass those reported in previous studies. The simplicity, durability, and continuous operational capability of the 3D LIGE offer promising prospects to address the growing challenges in global water scarcity.

中文翻译：

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低成本、环保、高性能的 3D 激光诱导石墨烯蒸发器，用于连续太阳能海水淡化


由于气候变化、森林砍伐、人口增长和用水需求增加，水资源短缺已成为一项全球性挑战。虽然先进的产水厂在城市地区很普遍，但偏远岛屿和人口稀少的地区在建立此类技术方面面临重大障碍。因此，这些领域迫切需要高效、经济和可持续的水生产技术。在此，我们提出了一种利用超短脉冲激光在环境条件下直接将棉织物转化为石墨烯的简单方法。所得激光诱导石墨烯 （LIG） 表现出 99.0% 的最高光吸收效率和较宽的吸收范围 （250–2500 nm）。作为一种优良的太阳能吸收剂，棉织物上的 LIG 可以有效吸收 98.6% 的总太阳辐照度，其表面温度在阳光下可以达到 84.5 °C，无需光集中。此外，我们还提出了一种经济高效的 3D LIG 蒸发器 （LIGE），用于连续太阳能海水淡化。这种创新设计有效地缓解了盐的形成问题，并提高了蒸汽的产生效率。测得的水蒸发速率和太阳能-蒸汽转换效率分别约为 1.709 kg m^–2 h^–1 和 95.1%，超过了以往研究中报道的水平。3D LIGE 的简单性、耐用性和持续运行能力为应对全球水资源短缺的日益严峻的挑战提供了广阔的前景。