Boosting the Viable Water Harvesting in Solar Vapour Generation:From Interfacial Engineering to Devices Design.

Continuously increasing demand for the life-critical water resource has induced severe global water shortages. It is imperative to advance effective, economic and environmentally sustainable strategies to augment clean water supply. The present work reviews recent reports on the interfacial engineering to devices design of solar vapour generation (SVG) system for boosting the viability of drinkable water harvesting. Particular emphasis has been placed on the basic principles associated with the interfacial engineering of solar evaporators capable of efficient solar-to-thermal conversion, and resulting freshwater vapour via eliminating pollutants from quality-impaired water sources. We then highlight the critical configurations manufacturing of the devices for fast condensation to harvest potable liquid water. Fundamental and practical challenges, along with prospects for the targeted materials architecture and devices modifications of SVG system are also outlined, aiming to provide future directions and inspiring critical research efforts in this emerging and exciting filed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.