System with Thermal Management for Synergistic Water Production, Electricity Generation and Crop Irrigation
Corresponding Author: Shih‑Hsin Ho
Nano-Micro Letters,
Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 57
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.
Highlights:
1 Dynamic thermal management: the system achieves evaporation rates of 1.91 kg m−2 h−1 (1 sun) and 0.54 kg m−2 h−1 (darkness) through energy storage hydrogel-based energy storage evaporator, effectively mitigating intermittent solar availability.
2 Enhanced salinity gradient utilization: integrated reverse electrodialysis (RED) system harvests ~0.30 W m−2 from desalination-concentrated brine, tripling the output of conventional seawater/surface water RED system.
3 Sustainable resource integration: drainage water enables zero-pollution crop irrigation (shoot length ~87 mm, 7 d), completing the seamless integration of water-energy-food nexus.
Keywords
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References
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S. Zhang, M. Li, C. Jiang, D. Zhu, Z. Zhang, Cost-effective 3D-printed bionic hydrogel evaporator for stable solar desalination. Adv. Sci. 11(17), e2308665 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202308665
C. Xing, Z. Li, Z. Wang, S. Zhang, Z. Xie et al., Chemical scissors tailored nano-tellurium with high-entropy morphology for efficient foam-hydrogel-based solar photothermal evaporators. Nano-Micro Lett. 16(1), 47 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01242-y
Y. Liu, Z. Lv, J. Zhou, Z. Cui, W. Li et al., Muscle-inspired formable wood-based phase change materials. Adv. Mater. 36(39), e2406915 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202406915
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M. Wang, Y. Wei, R. Li, X. Wang, C. Wang et al., Sustainable seawater desalination and energy management: mechanisms, strategies, and the way forward. Research 6, 0290 (2023). https://doi.org/10.34133/research.0290
R. Niu, J. Ren, J.J. Koh, L. Chen, J. Gong et al., Bio-inspired sandwich-structured all-day-round solar evaporator for synergistic clean water and electricity generation. Adv. Energy Mater. 13(45), 2302451 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202302451
C. Chen, Y. Kuang, L. Hu, Challenges and opportunities for solar evaporation. Joule 3(3), 683–718 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2018.12.023
W. Li, Z. Zheng, Z. Qian, H. Liu, X. Wang, Phase change material boosting electricity output and freshwater production through hierarchical-structured 3D solar evaporator. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34(26), 2316504 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202316504
Z. Li, X. Xu, X. Sheng, P. Lin, J. Tang et al., Solar-powered sustainable water production: state-of-the-art technologies for sunlight-energy-water nexus. ACS Nano 15(8), 12535–12566 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c01590
S.K. Patel, C.L. Ritt, A. Deshmukh, Z. Wang, M. Qin et al., The relative insignificance of advanced materials in enhancing the energy efficiency of desalination technologies. Energy Environ. Sci. 13(6), 1694–1710 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee00341g
Z. Xu, L. Zhang, L. Zhao, B. Li, B. Bhatia et al., Ultrahigh-efficiency desalination via a thermally-localized multistage solar still. Energy Environ. Sci. 13(3), 830–839 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1039/C9EE04122B
L. Zhang, Z. Xu, L. Zhao, B. Bhatia, Y. Zhong et al., Passive, high-efficiency thermally-localized solar desalination. Energy Environ. Sci. 14(4), 1771–1793 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee03991h
L. Ding, D. Xiao, Z. Lu, J. Deng, Y. Wei et al., Oppositely charged Ti(3) C(2) T(x) MXene membranes with 2D nanofluidic channels for osmotic energy harvesting. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59(22), 8720–8726 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201915993
L. Ding, M. Zheng, D. Xiao, Z. Zhao, J. Xue et al., Bioinspired Ti3C2Tx MXene-based ionic diode membrane for high-efficient osmotic energy conversion. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61(41), e202206152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202206152
C.H. Park, S.Y. Lee, D.S. Hwang, D.W. Shin, D.H. Cho et al., Nanocrack-regulated self-humidifying membranes. Nature 532(7600), 480–483 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17634
W. Li, Z. Zheng, H. Liu, X. Wang, A solar-driven seawater desalination and electricity generation integrating system based on carbon black-decorated magnetic phase-change composites. Desalination 562, 116713 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2023.116713
W. Xin, Z. Zhang, X. Huang, Y. Hu, T. Zhou et al., High-performance silk-based hybrid membranes employed for osmotic energy conversion. Nat. Commun. 10(1), 3876 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11792-8
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