Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Best practices for solar water production technologies

Nature Sustainability volume 5, pages 554–556 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

We need consensus to accurately evaluate the performance and potential of emerging water production technologies, such as solar evaporation and atmospheric water harvesting. Here we recommend practices that would allow a fair basis to compare different studies, and help to align research input with actual demand.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of the working principles of two solar-powered technologies for clean water production.

References

  1. Tao, P. et al. Nat. Energy 3, 1031–1041 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ejeian, M. & Wang, R. Z. Joule 5, 1678–1703 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lord, J. et al. Nature 598, 611–617 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chen, C., Kuang, Y. & Hu, L. Joule 3, 683–718 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Li, X. et al. Joule 3, 1798–1803 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhao, F. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 489–495 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Zhang, L. et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 14, 1771–1793 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nandakumar, D. K. et al. Adv. Mater. 31, 1806730 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhao, F. et al. Adv. Mater. 31, 1806446 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Peeters, R. et al. Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 6, 2016–2034 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. LaPotin, A. et al. Joule 5, 166–182 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhang, Y. et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 13, 4891–4902 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Wang, F. et al. Joule 5, 1602–1612 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Yao, H. et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 14, 5330–5338 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Dongare, P. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 6936–6941 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Dongare, P. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 13182–13187 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Chen, W. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 5701–5710 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hanikel, N. et al. Science 374, 454–459 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Legrand, U. et al. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 60, 12923–12933 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kim, H. et al. Science 356, 430–434 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Li, R. et al. Nat. Sustain. 3, 636–643 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. LaPotin, A. et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 52, 1588–1597 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 (R-284-000-217-112).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Yaoxin Zhang & Swee Ching Tan

Authors
  1. Yaoxin Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Swee Ching Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swee Ching Tan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Sustainability thanks Jason Robert Tavares, Zuankai Wang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Y., Tan, S.C. Best practices for solar water production technologies. Nat Sustain 5, 554–556 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00880-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00880-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing